India’s first multi-faceted artificial intelligence and robotics centre will be set up in Bengaluru and tap the potential of data analytics, an emerging technology, for various ecosystems in the state, a news report said.
The centre will be set up at the Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) campus in Bengaluru and the state government has earmarked an initial grant of Rs 5 crore for the purpose, Deccan Herald said.
According to the same report, the centre is being established on the recommendation of Karnataka Knowledge Commission (KKC), which had constituted a special task group on artificial intelligence. The 18-member task group is co-chaired by Chiranjib Bhattacharya, professor, Department of Computer Science and Automation, Indian Institute of Science, and Venkatesh Valluri, chairman and president of Ingersoll Rand (India Region).
“The centre will be first of its kind in India which will have both industrial and also education components. A broad frame work on the modalities of the centre is being worked out and the detail project report is likely to be submitted to the Information Technology department within a month,” said KKC member-secretary Mukund Rao as quoted in the report.
The centre, once set up, also plans to offer courses for students on various aspects of data analytics and related fields and curriculum will be prepared soon, according to Rao.
Additionally, the state government intends to formulate a policy for hi-tech and frontier industries like 3D printing, robotics, nano technology, big data analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning, stem cell research, bespoke DNA medicine among others.
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has been running the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR) since 1986 in Bengaluru. However, CAIR caters more towards providing technological and secure communication and information systems for the defence services.
