Meet i2u2, your friendly robot

BENGALURU: The hero of Myshkin Ingawale’s script is shorter than Star Wars’ R2- D2, but no less endearing.

All of 2 feet, Bangalore based Ingawale’s ‘i2u2’ moves around the house on wheels and can also detect faces and gestures. It allows the user to log into it from any device and take control of it from anywhere in the world.

“How cool is having your own personal robot in the house,” said Ingawale, who has worked as a researcher at MIT, co-founded a startup and been part of phonemaker Xiaomi’s launch team in India.The robot can go find a person in a room or figure out simple gestures like a ‘yes’ or ‘no’, said Ingawale, who was one of the researchers who helped build the ‘Copenhagen Wheel’ at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The wheel, an add-on to your bicycle, can convert it into an electric hybrid vehicle.