Background
MINRO Center is established at IIITB upon the recommendation of Karnataka Knowledge Commission of the Government of Karnataka and funded as part of Innovate Karnataka program of the Department of ITBT, Government of Karnataka.
The motivation to set up the center was:
- KJA Task Group Report on Machine Intelligence (TGMI) states that Machine Intelligence & Robotics have the potential to fundamentally transform economies, businesses and individual lives.
- There is a requirement for fresh innovative thinking on matters of public policy, scientific and industrial R&D, education and training.
- A dedicated research and education institution dedicated to the study of Machine Intelligence and Robotics and its applications in the Indian context is the need of the hour.
Objective
MINRO’s objective is to be a “best-in-class” Center Of Excellence (COE) in Karnataka for Machine Intelligence and Robotics, involved in fundamental research addressing problems in the Indian context in a collaborative multi-disciplinary environment. The COE aims to take research beyond academic public publications in developing open-source platforms and data sources, mentoring startups and ensuring scalability and reliability of the technology for real-world deployment.
The Centre’s activities can be divided into three major focus areas: Education, Research, and Innovation. MINRO Center will conduct research related to machine intelligence, artificial intelligent systems, data analysis, data science, pattern recognition, human-machine interface and industrial products of robotics and automation.
The application areas will have the potential to address real world problems of governance and society. The envisaged application directions include, but are not limited to, smart governance, manufacturing, urban mobility and transportation, health and assisted living, education technology, natural language processing and understanding, web science and social cognition.
Deliverables and Outcomes
Research
- Thought leadership in Top tier International Conferences and National level workshops
- Peer reviewed publications
- Experience Center to showcase “best-in-class” research
Education
- Curriculum design and online learning resources
- Faculty development for capacity building
- Programs for policy makers on ML/AI technology adoption
- PhD and Masters Research programs
Innovation
- Patents (US and Indian)
- Mentoring startups and facilitating collaborative multidisciplinary research
- Clean Data Sources, Opensource extensible technology Platform, Field-tested technology