Parthasarathy Reddy Bana

Papers

Total Citations

H-Index

About

Parthasarathy Reddy Bana is a researcher in human-robot interaction (HRI) and socially assistive robotics, with a focus on deploying robots to promote public health behaviors. His major contributions center on the design and evaluation of "SanitizerBot," a teleoperated social robot that uses prosocial gestures, speech, and LED expressions to encourage hand sanitizer use during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a notable eight-month study (October 2020–June 2021) on the Oregon State University campus, Bana demonstrated how human-in-the-loop robots can playfully support health best practices in real-world public spaces. His work bridges robotics, public health, and behavioral science, showing that robots can serve as effective, non-coercive nudges for hygiene compliance. With a total of 16 citations across his top papers, Bana’s research has been recognized for its timely, applied approach to using social robots for pandemic response. His findings offer a blueprint for future service robots that engage and motivate human behavior change in public settings.