For Rs 10,000, a 17-year-old Keralan kid creates a robot to assist his suffering mother with domestic duties

A functioning robot was created by Muhammed Shiyad Chathoth, a 17-year-old Keralan class 12 computer science student, to assist his ill mother with various home duties. 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 his mother said, “If only she had a robot like that who could help her out with her duties around the house,” he was 14 years old.

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 restaurant, 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 utilising, 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.

“There is no direct information about building a robot available on the Internet. But I realised that the restaurant’s machine was travelling down a predetermined path. I found numerous videos explaining this technology as a result of my investigation, claims the 17-year-old.

Within a year, Shiyad created a simple design by mounting a plastic stool on top of an aluminium base supported by four tyres. 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.
In our house, the distance between the kitchen and the dining room is a little bit longer than typical. Shiyad’s mother Sareena frequently bemoans this, especially in the mornings when everyone is running behind schedule for work and school. Pathooty is now moving back and forth serving us food and other items. Additionally, it reminds us of my mother’s medications and even gives them to her, explains Shiyad’s father, Abdul Rahman.

According to Shiyad, the robot’s construction cost less than Rs 10,000 in total. There were too many failures and repurchases because I conducted it as an experiment, he continues, so it could have been less expensive.

Together with a handful of his classmates, the kid aspires to launch a robotics and automation firm in the future. In order to develop fresh concepts for home automation in the future, we hope to obtain a patent for Android Pathooty. The Indian Institute of Technology in any city is where I want to pursue engineering, he added.