Robots in Smart Cities

Studley, Matthew E.; Little, Hannah

Abstract

Robots and Smart Cities seem like natural partners. They both gather data and process it, and could provide added value to each other in a variety of ways. In this chapter, we briefly explore some potential use cases featuring the smart city as an informational entity, and a variety of robots. It becomes clear that robots could have an enormous impact on the way that cities are designed and operate and that the closer integration of such ‘autonomous’ machines into our living, working and public spaces will similarly change the way we interact with the city, and with each other. In order to promote public discussion of these impacts, and in the hope that citizens equipped with knowledge are empowered to actively choose the way their environment develops, we introduced the Robots in Smart Cities Challenge to the European Robotics League. This places robots and researchers in the heart of the Smart City, showing skills and technologies in a variety of relatable and believable use cases, or Episodes. The first such challenge was a tremendous success, and we report briefly on the impacts, and feedback gathered from public and other stakeholders as a result.

• Online Publication Date: Oct 21, 2020
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2021
• Deposit Date: Nov 3, 2020
• Pages: 75-88
• Book Title: How Smart is Your City?
• ISBN: 9783030569259
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56926-6_7
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/6826910
• Additional Information: First Online: 21 October 2020