Meet Buddharoid, the robot monk helping Japan's priest shortage
Kyoto University just introduced Buddharoid, a 1.3-meter-tall robot monk, at Kyoto's Shoren-in Temple.
Designed to help with Japan's priest shortage, Buddharoid uses centuries-old Buddhist teachings to answer questions about life, suffering, and compassion.
It can walk around the temple and even perform traditional prayer gestures while chatting with visitors.
Buddharoid runs on the Unitree G1 platform
Buddharoid runs on the Unitree G1 platform with BuddhaBot-Plus AI, blending voice recognition and natural language processing so it can hold real conversations.
It responds to spoken questions and moves its body for a more lifelike feel: think bowing or prayer poses.
Buddharoid is a collaboration between Kyoto University and several companies
This project is a team effort from Kyoto University's Kumagai Lab, Teraverse Co., Ltd., and XNOVA Inc.
It builds on earlier BuddhaBot chatbots used by monks in Bhutan, but takes things further by combining advanced AI with human-like movement for a more immersive temple experience.