Experimenting with urban robotics as a new urban infrastructure

An ESRC-funded project (£510K) - January 2023-June 2025

Dr Aidan While and Professor Simon Marvin, Department of Urban Studies and Planning and the Urban Institute, University of Sheffield

It is becoming clear that robotics will be an integral part of the design, planning and operation of future cities and urban infrastructure. This is most evident in the development of driverless cars and drones, but there is potential for a much broader application of robotics in the delivery of goods and the management of people.

The use of robots in the public realm of cities has previously been constrained by technological limitations and concerns about human safety. However, that is changing rapidly as technology develops and governments recognize the potential of robotics to provide essential goods and services with reduced human contact.

Interest in urban robotics has certainly increased because of COVID-19 and the potential of robotics to provide essential goods and services with reduced human contact. There could be significant public benefits from using robotics in the public realm but also social and ethical concerns about employment impacts and extended surveillance and social control, especially when robotics is combined with facial recognition and profiling. There is growing interest in urban robotics but so far the research on wider urban impacts has been limited. The aim of the proposed project is to fill that research gap by undertaking new research on the unfolding development of urban robotics in the UK and internationally.

This internationally leading 30-month research project will help understand the potential impacts of urban robotics and provide the knowledge needed to inform public policy and academic research on urban robotics at this critical phase in its development. That includes supporting the development of urban robotic technology and services in the UK by linking social science and robotic engineering and understanding how innovation is shaped by opportunities for real world testing.

The research will include:

• a review of international urban robotic research and development
• detailed analysis of the context for urban robotic innovation in the UK
• case-studies of urban robotic initiatives and innovation systems in the USA, Australia and Japan; and
• a structured programme of policy support and awareness-raising.

The project will use a novel socio-technical framework on robotics to provide a comparative lens of urban robotics sites of application in the UK and internationally.

The research fits within the UI theme Urban Automation and Robotics which explores urban technologies including smart cities and continued leading work on robotics and autonomous systems in urban studies. 

For more information contact Aidan While, a.h.while@sheffield.ac.uk