Curb Your Robot

Hundreds of knee-high robots are now rolling down sidewalks in Los Angeles County, carrying burritos and groceries to people's doors. They wait at crosswalks, cross when the light changes, drive slower than you walk, and the company gives each one its own name. If your city has them, one has probably already rolled past you on your way to school, and if it does not have them yet, it is likely next in line. City leaders in Glendale are taking a closer look at them, and twenty-four states have already written laws about what these robots are allowed to do.

The argument is not really about whether they work, because they mostly do. It is about sharing space. Sidewalks in big cities are already crowded, and critics point out that a robot parked in the wrong spot can block a curb ramp, which is the only way someone using a wheelchair can get up onto the sidewalk. Other people barely notice them and like getting their food without paying a delivery driver.

A robot cannot read a situation the way you can. It does not know that you are in a hurry, that you are carrying something heavy, or that it just cut in front of a stroller. Companies are already trying to make people like these robots, which is why they gave them names in the first place.

Your Task: Imagine you work for the company that runs these robots, and one of them is yours to design.

1. The Name
Give your robot a name, then explain what that name tells people about how it behaves and why you picked it over something cuter or tougher. (A name, plus 2 sentences.)

2. The Signal
Your robot needs to let a person know what it is about to do, like crossing, stopping, or waiting for them to pass. Invent one way it could say that without using words. It could be a sound, a light, a movement, a face, or something nobody has built yet. Describe it in words, then explain how a person who has never seen your robot would understand it on the first try. (3 to 4 sentences.)

3. The Rule
Cities are writing robot laws right now, and your company gets to propose one. Write one rule that every sidewalk robot should have to follow, say who it protects, and admit what it costs your company. (3 to 4 sentences.)

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