Seeing His Mother Struggle With Chores, A 17-Year-Old Builds A Robot To Serve Food And Do Other Things

The inspiration for the idea came to Chathoth while he and his family were being served by a simple humanoid robot at a Kannur restaurant. When he was fourteen years old, he overheard his mother saying, “If only she had a robot like that that could assist her with her chores around the house.”

Chathoth has always had a passion for technology and is skilled in automation. Chathoth asserts in an interview that he has created a smartphone application to control all of the electrical appliances in the house, including lights, fans, and televisions. He, therefore, had faith in this robot idea as well.

When Chathoth inquired about the machine at the same eatery, he was told that it cost Rs 3–4 lakh to order one. They have named it Android Pathooty after the Malayalam film Android Kunjappan. They lacked technical information on the system they were utilizing, though.

Since purchasing a robot at this price point wasn’t an option, he began his investigation and quickly learned that there are various affordable ways to construct such a system.

Within a year, Shiyad created a simple design by mounting a plastic stool on top of an aluminum base supported by four tires. The movement was powered by a gear and motor that ran on 12 volts. But he had to overcome a number of obstacles to make it into a robot that resembled a person.

The robot’s upper body is a female mannequin that can rotate across 180 degrees. The robot can currently just bring food from the kitchen to the dining table and serve it. But the system is entirely automated. All that is required is to put a tray of food onto Android Pathooty, and it will proceed to the table along a predetermined course that has been indicated with black tape.

The ultrasonic sensor manages the robot. The MIT app and Admega MicroController have also been used to create a mobile application. It has manual and automatic operation capabilities and can support loads of up to 6 kg.

According to Shiyad, the robot’s construction cost less than Rs 10,000 in total. Although he conducted it as an experiment, there were too many failures and repurchases for it to have been less expensive. Together with a handful of his classmates, the kid aspires to launch a robotics and automation firm in the future.

News Mania Desk