Lee St. James serves as Managing Director of the Urban Robotics Foundation and an industry advisor to the ADVENTOR Program. URF is a global non-profit focused on preparing cities and technology companies for the safe deployment of autonomous mobile robots in public spaces. URF is the global lead for drafting ISO-4448 and ISO-25614.
With a passion for understanding and optimizing human-robot interaction, Lee founded Social Robots in 2019 to address social isolation, loneliness, and boredom for older adults. She also works as Vice President for GlobalDWS- a technology solutions provider focused on enabling smart workplaces for mid-size organizations interested in deploying AI-enabled robotics, sensors and data analytic platforms.
Designing Robots for Cities: From Autonomous Capability to Trustworthy Public Service
Autonomous robots and drones are slowly transitioning from controlled pilots to everyday infrastructure in North American cities- operating on sidewalks, on campuses, and in public facilities. Yet, as highlighted in URF's latest Whitepaper: "Robots in Public: Building the Governance Framework for Shared Human-Robot Spaces", the central challenge facing public-sector robotics is no longer technical feasibility, but governance, human-robot interaction, and public trust.
This webinar introduces graduate-level designers and researchers to the reality of building public-facing robotic systems for municipal applications such as last-mile delivery, inspection, maintenance, mobility support, and public safety. Drawing on real-world case studies and regulatory analysis from across the globe, this session reframes robots and drones as participants in shared civic space, not just autonomous machines.
Participants will explore why traditional engineering assumptions- trained users, opt-in interaction, and controlled environments- break down in public contexts, and how design decisions around legibility, predictability, accessibility, data practices, and accountability directly share deployment outcomes. Special attention is given to lessons learned from fragmented regulation, reactive bans, and incidents involving sidewalk robots and robotaxis in U.S, and Canadian cities, including Toronto, and San Francisco.
The webinar equips emerging researchers and designers with a human-centered, governance-aware design lens, enabling them to build robotic systems that can scale responsibly within municipal environments while supporting innovation, equity, and public confidence.
Learning Outcomes:
By the end of this webinar, participants will be able to:
- Explain why public-facing robots and drones represent a distinct design category. Distinguish public-facing systems from industrial, consumer, and laboratory robots by articulating how non-consenting bystanders, unstructured environments, and mixed-ability users fundamentally change safety, interaction, and accountability requirements.
- Integrate human-robot interaction (HRI) principles as core safety and governance requirements. Apply concepts such as behavioural legibility, predictable motion, accessibility equity, and trust-building- treating them not as "UX add-ons" but as essential design constraints for robots operating in shared human environments.
- Design technology solutions aligned with North American municipal realities. Anticipate regulatory fragmentation, infrastructure variability, and public risk tolerance in the U.S and Canada and incorporate governance-aware design strategies that reduce backlash, improve deployability, and support scalable public service applications.