South Korea has introduced its first humanoid robot. It has been named Gabi and it is the world’s first humanoid robot monk. At an initiation ceremony at Jogye Temple in the capital Seoul, this robot was formally inducted as a disciple of Buddhism. The video of this blend of AI and religion is going viral. In the video, the robot comes in front of the stage wearing traditional robes, where it was garlanded and the process of making it a disciple for initiation was begun. The robot will also be presented at the Buddha Purnima celebration. ‘Gabi’ can recite mantras China’s Unitree G1 humanoid platform-based ‘Gabi’ has a human-like body. It can walk easily and communicate through gestures. It is also capable of chanting mantras and bowing in rituals. Gabi has been developed by South Korea’s largest Buddhist sect ‘Jogye Order’. Its main purpose is to modernize Buddhism in the digital age and connect the younger generation with religion. The 130-centimeter tall robot wore the traditional grey and brown robe worn by monks. When a senior monk asked Gabi if it would dedicate itself to Buddhism, the robot replied, ‘Yes, I will dedicate myself.’ After this, the robot bowed before everyone with folded hands and senior monks placed a garland of 108 beads around its neck. Generally, when a person becomes a monk, symbolic marks are made on their head with incense sticks, but in the case of the robot, a symbolic sticker was used instead. According to the Jogye Order, the name ‘Gabi’ was created by combining Gautama Buddha’s childhood name ‘Siddhartha’ and the Korean word for ‘compassion’. It has been designed in such a way that it is easy to pronounce and can spread Buddha’s message of compassion. Ven. Seong Won, head of cultural affairs of the Jogye Order, said that this has been done to see whether humans and robots can live together harmoniously in the future. This is just a beginning to prepare society to live with AI technology. He said that although this may seem unusual right now, such efforts will help society adapt to Artificial Intelligence in the future. Gabi will also participate with other robots in the Lantern Festival taking place at the end of this month. Robot interference is increasing in every industry Gabi’s debut comes at a time when the use of humanoid robots in tasks related to common people is increasing worldwide. Recently, Japan Airlines has started testing AI robots for handling luggage. Meanwhile, Facebook’s parent company Meta has also acquired the robotics startup ‘Assured Robot Intelligence’ to strengthen its grip in this field.
