BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Robot. AI
Sec. Human-Robot Interaction
Bridging art and AI in the global south: The development of the robot Zequinha considering the grand challenges of Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence
Provisionally accepted
- Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro PEP/COPPE/UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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This paper presents the design of a Brazilian robot, named Zequinha, for cultural and educational purposes in light of Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence challenges. Zequinha's development is a blend of art, robotics, and AI, evolving from MIDI-programmed animatronics to an autonomous entity integrating multiple local AIs. This shift to local processing inherently enhances privacy and governance, minimizing reliance on external APIs and enabling offline operability. The project's human-centered design approach is evident in its iterative methodology and its collaborative development with children. Zequinha promotes human well-being by enriching cultural mediation, engaging diverse audiences, and demonstrating potential in health and education. Moreover, the focus on local AI fosters responsible design and meaningful human-AI interaction, aiming to create a charismatic, safe, and useful robotic mediator.
Keywords: Advanced technologies, ArtificialIntelligence (AI), Creative media, Cultural heritage, EXtended reality (XR), HCAI challenges, Human-AI interaction, Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence
Received: 11 Dec 2025; Accepted: 13 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Cunha, Lira, Alencar, Bartholo and Caulliraux. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ana Claudia Cunha
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