Responsible Robotics in Retail
2019-2024
The AI for Retail (AIR) Lab Delft is a joint TUDelft-Ahold Delhaize industry lab. The expansion from AIRLab Amsterdam to AIRLab Delft comprises a robotics research program and test site for developing state-of-the-art innovations in the retail industry. The Responsible Robotics project line explores the ethics of integrating robots into retail spaces, like stores, distribution centers and modes of delivery.
About the AirLab project
Based in RoboValley, a robotics research center developed by TU Delft Robotics Institute, a team of international researchers explores robotic solutions that can be applied throughout the retail supply chain, from warehouses and stores to customers. To ensure these explorations result in tangible solutions, Ahold Delhaize will open a test site where researchers can work with partners, students and start-ups, supported by the technology incubator of TU Delft – YES!Delft – to build and test prototypes of robotic solutions. At the test site they explore how robotics can be deployed in a retail setting, how robotic grippers can handle delicate items such as fruits and vegetables, or how to improve image-recognition of products and packaging.
Our contribution
As part of the AIRLab project, dr. Filippo Santoni de Sio and PhD candidate Madelaine Ley explore issues of meaningful human-control, worker justice and wellbeing, and ecological care as robots become used more in retail. Madelaine’s doctoral research, for example, looks at retail setting through the lens of care ethics, examining how people’s ability to care for each other and the planet is mediated by retail robots and retail technology in general. She focuses on realtionality, emotions and embodiment, all of which are generally left out of the discussion on robots, retail, and work. The project line is informed by philosophy of technology, as well as empirical data gathered through interviews and workshops.
