IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - March 2011 - 59
By Pericle Salvini, Giancarlo Teti,
Enza Spadoni, Cecilia Laschi,
Barbara Mazzolai, and Paolo Dario
*
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MRA.2010.940153
Date of publication: 14 April 2011
1070-9932/11/$26.00ยช2011 IEEE
IMAGE COURTESY OF PERICLE SALVINI
P
eccioli, a small medieval town in Italy, became
one of the first places in the world where a robot
was used (not demonstrated) to carry out a
public service in the urban environment (from
15 June 2010 to 7 August 2010). Thirty-five real
users accepted to trash their domestic waste using the robot
DustCart, a mobile robot designed to collect, transport,
and discharge rubbish bags in complete autonomy. During
the testing period, the robot safely traveled along the public
streets of Peccioli, carrying out its daily service and sharing
the urban environment with the passers-by, bicycles, and
cars, without causing any problems. Drawing on this
unique event, in which the authors also participated, the
article addresses some of the implications originating from
the actual deployment of autonomous mobile robots in
urban areas. Our reflections will gravitate around two
major issues: legal regulations and social acceptance. More
specifically, we will report on the legal solutions adopted
for deploying DustCart in the streets of Peccioli and the
activities carried out to increase the social acceptance of
the robot.
Till today, the deployment of autonomous mobile
robots in urban environments has been the talk of science
fiction. A memorable example is a short story and the
movie based on it, I Robot [1], where the robots carry out
various kinds of services in human-inhabited settings. In a
particular scene, humanoid robots are walking down the
street, shoulder to shoulder with human beings. This is an
exemplary case of coexistence between human beings and
robots. In this article, we recount a similar story, but this
time it is based on real facts: that of a service robot called
DustCart, which was used for more than a month in a
small Italian town to collect rubbish bags and then transport them to a discharge site. The robot, which was
designed and developed within the framework of the
Focus on
Social and Legal Challenges
European Union (EU) project DustBot [1], traveled on
public roads in complete autonomy, interacting with people
and cars and coexisting in the urban life of Peccioli. As far
as we know, there are no references in literature to service
robots being deployed in an urban environment or for such
a lengthy period of time.
The objective of this article is to report on the testing of
the robot DustCart in Peccioli and to point out some of the
ethical, legal, and social implications that emerged before
and during the test period.
MARCH 2011
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IEEE ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION MAGAZINE
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59
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - March 2011
IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - March 2011 - Cover1
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IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - March 2011 - Cover3
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