Urban Robotics: Achieving Autonomy in Design and Regulation of Robots and Cities

Abstract

Part I: Introduction Are cities ready for self-driving, artificially intelligent, vehicles and robotics? The urban marketplace is increasingly filled with products emblematic of "smart" cities, from widely discussed autonomous vehicles to smaller variations on the theme, such as robotics for delivery, security, and entertainment. 1 Altogether, such urban robotics represent a new wave of technology in which digital sensors, networked devices, and their associated data stores are given the algorithmic, physical, and legal means to move in public space. 2 As time goes on, the public is increasingly likely to encounter self-driving vehicles, robots, and drones on city streets, sidewalks, and in urban airspace. How should cities respond to these new and impending technologies? Firms have technological, market, and financial interest in testing and deploying their products in public space, but the implications for cities span a broad array of intended and unintended consequences. Cities are natural sites of experimentation for firms interested in bringing these products to market, and the perception of economic opportunity associated with tech firms is leading city representatives to reclaim public spaces, transforming them into testbeds for product development. 3 It is worth noting, however, that experimentation involves trial and error, and there are limitations to the ability of artificial intelligence to navigate the wide range of conditions and events that comprise the urban environment. 4 Ultimately, the design of the 1

Humans, robots and artificial intelligences reconfiguring urban life in a crisis

“…Narrow AI driven by neural networks may achieve the sophistication needed to monitor and identify pedestrian trajectories (Nasr Esfahani et al, 2022) so that robots can learn to either "go with the flow" or "get out of the way". However, the ability to navigate crowded urban settings such as those that might be found in London or New York requires capacities approaching those of general AI, such as the ability to understand the social and psychological constraints on pedestrian behavior and cultural conventions of behavior in public space (Bera et al, 2017;Woo et al, 2020;Gao and Huang, 2021). In contrast, the low density of MK, which is comparable to that of suburban areas of larger cities, made it possible for pedestrians to accept the limited social intelligence of the robots and adapt to their behavior, which is seen as non-threatening, helpful and endearing even as they occasionally struggle to complete their assigned task (Sumartojo et al, 2021).…”

The ethics of wicked problems: an exegesis

“…Consider this emerging example: cities today compete to become testbeds for the research and product development of urban robotics. To be successful, these robots must count on learning from complex urban environment instead of the simpler environment of the laboratory (Woo et al 2020 , p. 343). This means implementing robots in the actual environment of the city even as safety regulations concerning them remain unready.…”

Humans and robots coping with crisis – Starship, Covid-19 and urban robotics in an unpredictable world

“…However, if a robot were to stop in a crowded pavement in London or a sidewalk in New York it would cause considerable aggravation and risk for pedestrians [16]. Classical mapping and navigation algorithms are considered insufficient for safe operation of robots around pedestrians in urban settings, which are likely to require consideration of the sometimes random and sometimes linear flows of pedestrians [17] (so that robots can learn to either "go with the flow" or "get out of the way") as well as understanding of the social and psychological constraints on pedestrian behaviour and existing cultural conventions of behaviour in public space [18] [19]. However, the low density of MK, which is comparable to that of suburban areas of larger cities, made it possible for pedestrians to adapt to the behaviour of the robots, which is seen as non-threatening, helpful, friendly and endearing even as they occasionally struggled to complete their assigned task [20].…”