Accessible Delivery Robots - The outcome for this work will be increased accessibility for and by delivery robots. To this end, project goals will focus on (a) technical advances on robot physical design, robot behaviors, and delivery methods and (b) delivery robot data sharing to support independent mobility. There is an urgent need to motivate accessibility in the rapidly growing market of delivery robots. This market is already larger than most people realize – one company reported 1,700 robots in daily operation with about 10,000 deliveries per day in March 2022 – and forecasts estimate the market growing by as much as 10x by 2030. To address this gap, the team will develop software building on decades of experience and resources acquired under prior projects to produce code modules for easy integration by robotics companies. Development of new physical designs will produce reference designs and guidelines to motivate needed physical and interaction changes. Finally, the team will facilitate opportunities for delivery robots to generate real-time data about sidewalks and other public infrastructure in support of accessible neighborhood travel (e.g., snow cleared, etc). Expected outputs of the development plan include new findings, code, guidance, and products that advance the accessibility of delivery robots, with likely relevance to the broader areas of robotics and transportation systems. These include demonstrations of new physical design features and robot behaviors, robot behavior components compatible with the industry-standard robot software architecture, software recommendations for data sharing by delivery robots, and research dissemination (e.g., peer-review papers, etc). This work will all be developed with ongoing and extensive input from disability and industry stakeholders. The result of this effort will be to steer delivery robots from their largely inaccessible present to a future where they benefit people with disabilities.
