Disability advocates call for stop to delivery robots in public spaces

The debate over whether to allow robots in public spaces for certain tasks like delivering food and clearing snow off sidewalks is heating up as disability advocates say they can be extremely dangerous.

In a recent brief, The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance asked the province to put a stop to both autonomous or remotely controlled machines being deployed in public areas.

Chair of the Alliance David Lepofsky said they are dangerous for many reasons. “One is, the danger of them colliding with us or us walking into them, whether you’re a blind person or you have balance issues or otherwise. The danger of them falling over or otherwise blocking access for people with mobility disabilities. The danger of them colliding with you or with your guide dog, or otherwise hurting you.”

“Right now, it may seen cool, like they’re robots and so on, but cool doesn’t make them safe,” remarked Lepofsky.

However Dr. Frank Naccarato said public testing of this technology is what helps make the robots safe. Naccarato founded the GTA robotics company behind ROSA, the stair-climbing robot.

“The solution is to test the technology very thoroughly and make it as safe as possible. And, I think that’s entirely possible, that we can make machines that are very safe,” said Naccarato. “The challenge for engineers, for the people behind the technology is to solve those problems.”

He adds there needs to be dialogue between accessibility advocates and developers.

“People who are developing robots that are going to be interacting with people are very open to solving peoples exactly like that. And, it’s doable. People in the industry are doing it all the time,” said Naccarato.

The man behind Tiny Mile, a Toronto company that operates a fleet of delivery robots, Ignacio Tartavull said they have already spend a lot of time making these robots safe.

“They’re super light, they weight a lot less than a human for example and they move at a walking speed. We’re going to keep working and investing in making them safer over time,” said Tartavull.

Ethics of emerging technologies professor at the University of Toronto Kerry Bowman said there is lots to consider when discussing robots on sidewalks.

There’s no question that emerging technologies of this nature ultimately, and longer term could be a tremendous benefit to people living with disabilities of various forms,” explained Bowman. “But here’s the thing, as these things emerge, the social and ethical context of them has to be really, really carefully thought through.”

He also warned Canadian winters take a toll on the usability of sidewalks and that’s something that can’t be forgotten when deciding whether these robots can be used.

“If we’re going to allow them within the street of Toronto, we need to know it’s not introducing a significant safety risk for people living with disabilities,” added Bowman.