Samenvatting

Two years ago, in an economically underprivileged neighbourhood, designers and researchers collaborated with residents to investigate how local community challenges could be supported by initially hypothetical autonomous urban robots that later became known as “hoodbots” (Jaskiewicz & Smit, 2024). The designers created an opensource kit of robotic parts without predetermined functions, which was used in a community centre to co-design and prototype small robotic vehicles. For instance, one robot was conceived by the citizens to facilitate recycling by collecting materials such as paper and plastics, yet its final purpose remained deliberately ambiguous.