Launch of “DHRITI”, a Mental Health Resource Chatbot” from Center of Excellence in AI & ML, CSE
01-Jun-2021
On 1st June 2021, Center of Excellence (CoE) in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, under the Dept. of Computer Science & Engineering launched “DHRITI”, a Mental Health Resource Chatbot. The Chatbot was successfully launched by Mr. Manjunath Bhandary, Chairman; Dr. S Manjappa, Director-Research & Consultancy; Dr. Rajesha S, Principal; Prof. S S Balakrishna, Vice-Principal; and Dr. Nalini E Rebello, Dean Academics.
Dr. Pushpalatha K, Head of Dept. of Computer Science & Engineering, welcomed the gathering. Dr. Shreyas Rao gave a brief presentation covering overview of “Dhriti” bot, its purpose, features, platform and release plan. The bot provides resources to mental health which can help people cope with the pandemic issues. It is multi-lingual and supports English, Kannada and Hindi languages currently.
Purpose of the bot is three-fold: (a) Help the Society, (b) Build competency in Natural Language Processing area under COE – AI & ML and (c) Train students to develop similar chatbots for other domains
Features of the bot include:
? Helpline (Suicide, Alcohol De-addiction etc.)
? Directory of Mental Health Therapists (List of Counsellors, Psychologists and Psychiatrists) in Dakshina Kannada and Bengaluru regions.
? Grief Counselling Support.
? List of Mental Health Apps (for Anxiety, Depression, OCD, Addictions etc.)
? Techniques for Mental Wellbeing (includes Yoga, Meditation, Pranayama)
? Social Wellbeing (includes Recreational Apps & Support Groups)
? General Covid Information (includes Symptoms, Prevention, Vaccination, Social Distance etc.)
During the event, Dr. Rajesha S, Dr. S Manjappa and Dr. Ravichandra KR, Head of Dept. of Mechanical Engineering shared their views on the Chatbot and provided useful suggestions. Teaching Staffs of various departments participated in the event.
