Covid Robocop: The droid that reminds you to wear your mask

Engineers have developed a robot that can detect whether people are wearing a mask to guard against Covid-19 and, if not, politely remind them to put one on.

The feature is an upgrade of Pepper, a 120 cm (47 inch) high robot with human-like features that is already in operation in some countries welcoming visitors to shops, exhibitions, and other public spaces.

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Pepper’s camera scans the faces of people approaching it, and if it detects the lower half of their face is uncovered, it pronounces the phrase: “You have to always wear a mask properly.”

If it seems that the visitor then puts on a mask, the robot follows up with the phrase: “Thank you for having put on your mask.”

The idea is not to have robot police whether people are wearing masks, but to provide a friendly reminder, said Jonathan Boiria, head of sales in Europe for SoftBank Robotics, the company behind Pepper.

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“Shops have to assign people at the entrance, a lot of people, to ensure respect for the wearing of masks, and sometimes that is a stretch,” Boiria told Reuters in Paris.

 “A robot allows you to free up some people so they can focus on their normal tasks.”

“We’re all human. Sometimes I take off my mask when I get off the bus and I forget to put it back on when I arrive at the office. The robot provides a reminder. We can all get it wrong or forget.”