We all know that the best places to stay before the exams is the library. While we prepare for the final exams, it is normal that we might forget to wear our masks appropriately, especially we are under pressure. A group of NUS professors from NUS business schools leased customized robots from Weston Robot work together with librarians to remind students to wear their masks all the time. The deployment of the robots can also help researchers to explore the efficacy of using robots vs humans as the methods of reminding students to wear masks.

There are many different factors when deploying robots at libraries vs public areas such as Marina South Pier, or the Arena at the Ministry of Communications and Information: (1) The robot has to keep quite all the time, which means we cannot use audio to remind students to wear the masks. (2) Even we add a screen to display the reminding message, how can we make sure that students can get the messages while reading their textbooks.

Engineers at Weston Robot have to program the robot so that the robot can follow a path that it can be easily seen by students, and yet does not disturb them. Meanwhile, the robots deployed at libraries don't require 24/7 operations as other places. Thus, we have to make sure the robot can auto start at the required schedule without human interventions.

For more information about Weston Robot's technology to combat COVID-19, visit this page: https://www.westonrobot.com/COVID-19-solution