By Sophie Lloyd, Head of Economic Development, Milton Keynes City Council

Robotics brings the opportunity for many social benefits including efficiency, accessibility and improving quality of life. At Milton Keynes City Council, we’re at the forefront of exploring how robotics can improve public services and everyday life. The city already has an established network of autonomous delivery robots, and the council is supporting trials of self-driving passenger shuttles. A leading UK testbed since around 2014, testing new technology is considered part of Milton Keynes’ DNA. We’re proud to be the place innovators come to when they are moving their technology through to commercial service.

But the technology is rolled out is as important as the capabilities of the technology itself and it’s critical that citizens are brought along on the development journey to ensure their trust in new technology.

Developing and maintaining trust

There are significant possibilities for robotics to improve and complement public services in areas such as delivery and logistics, inspection and survey, environmental management, social companionship and maintenance and repair of public spaces.

For example, in Milton Keynes, our RoboPASS project is developing a UK-first framework that local authorities can use to license and permit the deployment of robots. During this project, we’ve trialled robots that might one day enhance environmental services – such as, the removal of chewing gum, de-weeding, de-icing paths – and have explored how robots might help in social care – prompting people to take medication, for social companionship, and to monitor for falls.

In Milton Keynes, we have broadly found people very receptive to the use of robots: the citizen engagement undertaken for RoboPASS found that 80% of 500 people surveyed were positive about seeing more robotics deployments.

But we cannot expect everyone to trust the use of robots implicitly, and there are very valid public concerns including the safety and security of the devices, what happens to the data they capture and whether they might put jobs at risk. It’s important that we consider these concerns carefully and take steps to address them.

Trials are an obvious tool to learn what works. For example, we’ve trialled robots on our extensive cycle path network, so they’ve been interacting with everyone from pedestrians, cyclists, and dog walkers, and it’s helped influence what sizes and speeds of robots would work for Milton Keynes. We’re even looking at what a future ‘Robocode’ may look like – an equivalent of a highway code which is clear on issues like who has the right of way.

We have also established the Smart City Experience Centre run by our partners at Smart City Consultancy. Situated in centre:mk, it means people can come and interact with robots in their own time to learn about their positive impact and share their views.

Developing that trust within our community is an ongoing journey. As we license new robotics services through our framework, we will continue to monitor how the services perform, with a clear focus on assuring safety, security, and trust. We will also keep measuring citizen sentiment so we can learn from feedback.

As we grow the public’s trust in the use of robotics, frameworks and structures play an important role in assuring people that the use of technology has been carefully thought through. Standards are particularly important considering local authorities are likely to be licensing operations, but not be technical experts themselves.

The RoboPASS framework, which is for both trials and commercial services that will take place in public environments, is designed to fill an important gap here. Currently, there is a lack of guidance for councils on what to consider if a robotics company approaches them. There’s also the risk that unscrupulous providers could take advantage of the regulatory gap and deploy without local oversight.

We’ve seen the benefits of robotics firsthand, and have been able to apply our experience from operating driverless shuttles, as well as added industry expertise from working with the National Committee for Robotics Regulations and Standards and BSI. We are keen to share our learnings with other towns and cities. By standardising the licensing approach, it means other councils can take advantage of the technology too, building on our experience.

RoboPASS also brings significant benefits for the technology developers. It enables early-stage innovators to test their solutions and build towards commercial deployment, and learn from our guidance in terms of what standards need to be met for deployment, for testing and for full commercial operation. We have a detailed set of performance measures to monitor safety, security, trust and inclusivity as the services develop.

Finding the balance between having robust safeguards and avoiding regulation becoming a barrier to innovation is crucial for everyone involved. Our role is to enable innovation, and bring a balance of understanding between commercial considerations, and the practicalities that councils have to consider. The goal with RoboPASS is to level the playing field, so all operators are adhering to the same requirements.

Transparency is key

Key to building trust in the use of robotics is transparency. People are much more likely to accept new technology when they understand its purpose, its limitations and who is accountable for it. If a robot is operating in a public space, people should know what it is there to do, who is responsible for its operation and how any concerns can be reported.

For example, we’ve taken learnings from taxi licensing, and each robot will have the equivalent of the ‘taxi permit’ showing the licensing details, and contact points, so people can get in touch if they have any concerns or wish to find out more.

In terms of when things go wrong, our approach is to work with industry to understand what happened and learn from it.  If there is a serious incident, that is immediately notifiable and the RoboPASS framework includes powers for us to withdraw services because, ultimately, the responsibility of safe services lies with the operator. By having this formalised structure and an ongoing relationship with the operators, we can work together to provide the levels of assurance and transparency our public deserve.

Opportunities like the RoboPASS event at Milton Keynes Tech Week this week are important to showcase our city’s leadership in robotics. We’re keen to encourage and continue a national conversation about how we move from experimentation to responsible, scalable deployment of robotics in public spaces.