We developed a social robot “Pepe” that encouraged around 100 children to engage in safe and effective handwashing behavior in a rural village in Wayanad, government Primary School, Kerala, India. The robot was tele-operated by researchers to display behaviours (such as eye movement, speech and expressive mouth) in order to influence children to wash their hands. Pepe gave instructions to children in their local language (Malayalam) to follow the correct handwashing steps via a poster on the wall.
Credits
Unnikrishnan R - Study Design, Client-Server software, Electronics, Mouth Animation, Deployment
Amol Deshmukh - Robot Design, Study Design
Shanker Ramesh - Mechanical Design, Study Design, Deployment
Sooraj K Babu - Robot Eye Control, Study Design/Logistics, Deployment
Parameswari A - Deployment
