Edappally metro station gets gamified

KOCHI: As a part of its Golden Jubilee celebrations, Cusat has joined hands with the Kochi Metro to gamify the Edappally metro station in connection with the ‘Merry Metro’ project. The project is being executed in association with Aster Medcity and Yeldo Mar Baselios College, Kothamangalam. Cusat’s School of Management Studies assistant professor Manu Melwin Joy is implementing the project. Kochi Metro’s Edappally station will be the first fully-gamified metro station in the world. The programme will be carried out on a pilot basis till August 15 for two hours a day (5pm to 7pm). 

The theme of ‘Merry Metro’ is to help the passengers unleash the hidden hero within them through various activities. The project has integrated five elements into the ecosystem of the metro station to ensure maximum engagement and involvement of the passengers. “These elements satisfy the 5Cs of gamification — Cause, Challenge, Curiosity, Choice, and Constraints,” said Manu. 

The game element of challenge is a ‘Squat corner - be a health hero activity’. “Passengers will be challenged to do 30 squats by standing on the ground sticker. If they complete the activity, they will win a free metro ticket worth Rs 50. They can also donate the prize money to the students of the government school at Kalamassery to buy books,” said a university official. They will be given health or social hero badges as a token of appreciation. 

At another corner, passengers were given a puzzle to be solved in a minute. The puzzle was based on the independence struggle. Passengers should join the jigsaw puzzle photos of freedom fighters and famous places related to the independence struggle and recognise them. “As many as 76 passengers volunteered for it,” said the official. 

The third game ‘Healthy Stairs’ is based on the curiosity element of gamification. The mascot of the Merry Metro saying ‘Take stairs, stay healthy’ has been kept in front of the stairs to attract attention and kindle curiosity among the passengers. 

Passengers who exit the station usually throw away their tickets mindlessly in the box kept near the exit. In the fourth game ‘Vote for your Hero,’ the team transformed that activity into a voting process. Now, two ballot boxes are kept near the exit with different themes such as Messi vs Ronaldo where the passengers can use their tickets to vote. 

The fifth game is ‘Robot for Sanitisation’. In this game, a robot will check whether they are wearing the mask properly and if they don’t have a mask, it will give them one. The robot named ‘Sabarot’ was developed by  assistant professor Ajay Antony Joseph and data scientist Praveen Kumar N of Yeldo Mar Baselios College with their students Sidharth P S, Anandhu K R and Bibin Paul.