Kerala civic body polls: Robot at Thrikkakara polling booth grabs eyeballs

KOCHI: The voters who arrived at Thrikkakara community hall polling booth in Ernakulam district on Thursday morning were in for a pleasant surprise. A smiling, wide-eyed robot welcomed them at the entrance of the polling station.

She offers sanitiser to the voters, advises them to wear the mask properly while entering the booth and checks their body temperature. If the body temperature is high she will advise the voter to contact the polling officer and avail the facility to cast vote separately.

Sayabot, the humanoid will also remind the voters in her perky voice about the need to adhere to social distancing norms in case of crowding in front of the booth.

A robot is seen aiding voters at the polling booth in Kerala. The robot designed by Asimov Robotics in Ernakulam offers sanitizer to voters and alerts them if they are not wearing masks or are not maintaining #SocialDistancing.
Express Video | @albin_tnie @xpresskerala pic.twitter.com/lPS2ExDtrQ

— The New Indian Express (@NewIndianXpress) December 10, 2020

"The response from the voters has been amazing. We programmed the robot for the job in two days and the results are encouraging. The robot checks temperature and interacts with the voter for around a minute. It is the first time a robot is being used at a polling station. It is a major achievement," said T Jayakrishnan, Chief Executive Officer of Asimov Rototics, that developed the robot