IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - March 2011 - 65

and this was due to the lack of a
human driver. Hence, the robots
cannot be subject to the obligatory insurance that covers damage when operating on the road.
Eventually, we managed to insure
the robot for the test by paying an
additional insurance premium of
about e800. However, the policy
did not cover damages that the
robots may sustain. According to
our broker, this kind of risk seems
to be the most difficult to cover for
a company in the insurance market in economically and normative
advantageous conditions.
l Privacy: Robots, such as DustCart, are endowed with the ability
to perceive, store, and use sensitive data related not only to the Figure 8. The robot lane (right-hand side of the picture). (Photo courtesy of Giancarlo Teti.)
environment but also to human
beings. Therefore, as pointed out by [9], there exists a DustCart. In addition, during the public meetings, the five
privacy problem for robots operating in public areas. In stages in the decision process identified by [21] were taken
Peccioli, the privacy problem was solved by placing in into account. As to knowledge and persuasion, all Peccioli
the test site signs warning of the presence of cameras, citizens were duly informed of the DustCart test. For this
which were used for security reasons and in accordance purpose, the first public meeting was organized, whose
with Article 13 of Italian "Personal Data Protection objective was to provide inhabitants of Peccioli with a wide
Code" (30 June 2003).
range of information concerning the project and the possible impact of this innovation on Peccioli's future.
Social Acceptance
For the same purpose,
With regard to the presence of an innovation such as Dust- the organizers carried out *
Cart robot in an urban community, our experience shows a press campaign that inThe relationship between
that social acceptance in this case depended on the following: cluded journals and mag1) citizens' perspective
azines. As a result, some
government and citizens'
2) the adoption of a specific innovation process by citizens got interested in
the local municipality, which was fully supported by the test of the robot and
decisions has been found to
our team.
actively sought further deThe innovation process-from research to the diffusion tails about the innovation.
be very important in the
and adaptation phases-should take into account the users'
For what concerns deperspectives, in a twofold way. On the one hand, users will cision, citizens evaluated
adoption of the robot and
adopt (or not) an innovation, awarding its success. On the the advantages/disadvanother hand, they will undergo an innovation, sometimes tages of using the innovaits service.
over their original needs and expectations. Users' accep- tion DustCart and decided
tance of innovations such as DustCart, when proposed to an whether to possibly adopt *
urban community, is also related to two factors: the public's or definitely reject the intrust in the local political government and the ability to ena- novation. In the testing area, there were 110 users (families
ble users (citizens) to acquire a balanced view of the new and commercial premises): some of them asked to be
methods required to carry out something they had done dif- involved in the test (early adopters [22]), and the first 24,
ferently before. According to the technology acceptance according to the DustBot potentialities, were accepted.
model (TAM) [21], the user's acceptance of any technology An interesting point was the fact that the link with tradidepends on two factors that have a significant impact on a tion played an important role in accepting the innovation
user's attitude toward using the technology: perceived use- DustCart: people who showed some initial doubts about
fulness and perceived ease of use.
the robot were definitely convinced as soon as someone
These considerations were taken into account during remembered them the ancient dustman, named Oscar,
the two public meetings that were organized by the munic- who used to collect garbage in a truck when called by Pecipality of Peccioli to involve the citizens in the testing of cioli citizens.
MARCH 2011

IEEE ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION MAGAZINE

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