Scholars and researchers develop a robot to encourage children to wash their hands

Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham academic and research centre AMMACHI Labs in Kerala in collaboration with Glasgow University in Scotland have developed Pepe, the robot that engages students and encourage them to wash their hands properly.

Pepe has been installed on a pilot basis in a government primary school in Kerala. It was made with cost effective technologies and costs less than Rs 7,000 (ca. €86). Pepe is green in colour, has an animated mouth and eyes that move to give a sense to the kids that they are being watched by it. The robot also speaks to the children in their mother tongue, Malayalam.

"Handwashing with soap has significant health benefits, and will help reduce the number of child deaths (300,000 globally) from Diarrhoea and related diseases caused by improper hand hygiene. This requires significant efforts in behaviour change which can be bolstered by the application of technology like social robotics. Pepe observes and encourages students in rural schools to wash their hands properly before meals and after using the toilet, two crucial times when bacteria transmission occurs," explains Unnikrishnan R, Team Lead, Virtual Reality and Serious Games group, AMMACHI Labs

In a school in Kalpetta, after the hand-shaped robot was mounted on a wall near the washroom, children between 5 and 12 years old made it a habit to visit it at least three times during school hours.

Adapted from: https://www.edexlive.com/happening/2019/oct/19/meet-pepe-the-robot-thats...
More information: https://www.bbc.com/news/av/technology-51143518/ao-air-s-face-mask-uses-...
http://ammachilabs.org/projects/pepe-the-social-robot-pilot-project-in-s...
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCst3N6tqJbrBxjqR0cn5wlw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBFy3LI890s