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'Fraid you can't ground out a charge from a non-conductor like HDPE by putting a ground wire on it - the charge can't move through the plastic to the wire (that's why they use plastic for insulators).
The only way I know of to remove the charge would be to put an ion source (basically a high voltage source or radioactive element) near it. That would neutralize the charge on the HDPE, but it's not likely to happen here.
To prevent damaging electronics, we're probably best off discharging the robot frame with a ground wire before touching any of the wiring or modules. Another way is to attach a static wrist strap to the robot so that you're at its potential. One "benefit" of doing that is you could then zap anyone near by (since you're now carrying the same charge as the robot)...
By the way, I think we're probably looking at charges of over 20KV here.
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