Roboverse VR begins; Gaganachari’ team among star visitors

The team of ‘Gaganachari’, an upcoming extraterrestrial Malayalam movie, was among the early visitors at Roboverse VR expo organised by Manorama Online in association with Jain University. Star of the film Gokul Suresh asked a robo dog at the expo whether it would watch the film, and received an interesting response.

The exhibits at the event, which began at Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Kochi on June 12, left the visitors, including the cast and crew of ‘Gaganachari’ in awe. The expo attracted a large number of youths as well as children accompanied by parents. Apart from Gokul Suresh, actor Anarkali Marikar and director Arun Chadu of ‘Gaganachari’, which is releasing on June 21, enjoyed the sights at Roboverse VR and interacted with the robots.

The expo will continue till June 17. The event was inaugurated on June 12 by Dr Tessy Thomas, former director general of Aeronautical Systems, DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation). In her speech, she said that the application of virtual reality, robotics and artificial intelligence is expanding in sectors such as industry, service and health. “These cutting-edge technologies should be included in the curriculum from the school-level,” added Tessy Thomas.

Others who spoke at the inaugural function included Finland’s consul general in India Erik af Hallstrom, who was the chief guest; director of Jain University Tom Joseph; pro-vice chancellor of the university Dr J Latha; medical director of Rajagiri Hospital Dr Jiji Kuruttukulam and Coordinating Editor of Manorama Online Santhosh George Jacob. Technical support for the expo is provided by the Thiruvananthapuram-based Unique World Robotics.

Main attractions at the event include robots in human shape that welcome visitors; Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based machines; robo games such as Robowar; virtual reality (VR) experiences; robotics classes; robotics career guidance sessions; a dedicated zone describing the history of robotics and a special zone where visitors can play games with robots. Entry to Roboverse VR is by tickets.