SPRING 2023

News & Events

The Urban Robotics Foundation (URF) is a global non-profit organization that is bringing together stakeholders impacted by public-area mobile robots (PMRs) used for last-mile delivery, sidewalk maintenance, etc.

We are pleased to announce "Municipal Readiness for PMRs" a new Webinar Series hosted by URF. These webinars will provide an introduction for current and prospective members to understand the development of the draft international standards (ISO 4448) and to explore how the technology, deployment and regulation of public-area mobile robots will impact cities and their people.

The first three sessions will take place on the last Tuesday of each month (April 25, May 30, June 27). Please visit the URF website for more information and to register for the introductory session.

NOTE: Each session builds on content covered in the previous one. Recordings will be available in "Member Resources" on our website.

Membership is open to: municipal government staff, urban & traffic planners, researchers,

technology companies,

accessibility advocates & fleet operators

Please welcome Lee St. James who joined URF as Managing Director, effective February 15, 2023. With an MBA from INSEAD and over 30 years of business experience, Lee brings a wealth of experience to our team (along with a love of robots!).

As a tech-savvy consultant, communicator and project manager, she has already expedited the launch of our new website and prepared a new calendar of activities for 2023.

Lee with a mini-robot

The International Standards Organization (ISO) working group that is drafting the body of standards for public-area mobile robots (PMRs) met on March 21-23, 2023 at the University of Toronto. The meeting was hosted by Professor Mark S. Fox, Director of the Urban Data Centre in the School of Cities and Distinguished Professor of Urban System Engineering. It was attended by working group members from 9 countries: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, the UK and USA. Our Executive Director, Bern Grush, presented 8 hours of updates to the draft ISO standard for PMRs over three days.

This meeting was pivotal for the draft ISO 4448 as we are at the mid-point of our efforts. The ISO working group convenor, Knut Evensen (Norway), commented: “I am deeply impressed with how far you have come on PMR standards in a relatively short time.”

Members have access to the latest PDF documents by logging in to our Member Resources section on the website. (They will also be invited to the upcoming standards review meetings - May 23/24). Please contact Lee St James if you would like to become a member.

URF is pleased to offer a virtual or in-person workshop geared to municipal staff, elected officials and urban planners:

Robots on City Streets - The Big Questions.

Ensuring that your initial discussions about PMRs are focused on the right topics, in the right order is a critical first step in deciding whether to restrict or permit PMRs and for what purposes.

Member organizations are entitled to a 25% discount on the workshop fee. Please click here to view a PDF flyer with more details or contact Lee to book a workshop.

We invite you to follow URF on LinkedIn to help us stay connected with your news and to see the latest news and commentary about public-area mobile robots.

You are receiving this email because we want to keep you informed of valuable information that might benefit you or those you serve. We invite you to share this email with anyone in your network who might want to know more about safely integrating PMRs into urban environments. Thank you for your support!