2027HRI[under review]

Sweepless Dreams: Envisioning Social Robots to Support the Unhoused

Sean Collins, N. C. Morris, M. Diamond, M. Wills, Jevon Lipsey, Tom Williams

BibTeX citation

@inproceedings{collins2027sweepless,
  title={Sweepless Dreams: Envisioning Social Robots to Support the Unhoused},
  author={Collins, S. and Morris, N. C. and Diamond, M. and Wills, M. and Lipsey, Jevon and Williams, Tom},
  booktitle={Proceedings of the 2027 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI '27)},
  year={2027},
  note={Under Review}
}

Abstract

Homelessness is a complex, prevalent, and socially entangled issue that affects a multitude of aspects within an individual's life. While numerous organizations work together to provide necessary services and support to unhoused people, many of the needs of unhoused people remain unmet. For roboticists seeking to work with this population, this raises two key research questions: what needs remain unmet in this community, and which of those needs might be addressable through robotic solutions? To answer these research questions, we conducted a five phase research process. First, we conducted interviews with those who work and volunteer with communities of unhoused people through local organizations. Second, we analyzed the transcripts of those interviews through the lens of the Existence, Relatedness, and Growth theory of needs. Third we conducted a prevalence analysis to prioritize these needs from the perspective of service providers. Fourth, we conducted a design fiction workshop to envision possible robotic solutions to unmet needs and to prioritize the needs undergirding those solutions from the perspective of designers. Finally, we analyzed the three remaining needs identified through this process through the lens of prior interviews with unhoused community members. Our results reveal a complex network of interlocking unmet needs and suggest that social robots might best aid unhoused people through the nonjudgmental provision of information about available resources and social services.

Most encounters between unhoused individuals and robotics involve hostility: automated food delivery bots crowding sidewalks, commercial security patrols, or police encampment sweeps[cite: 11]. This project investigates whether social robotics can instead counter this narrative by addressing service gaps without introducing surveillance or paternalistic intervention[cite: 11].

Research Pipeline

Service Provider Interviews: Conducted semi-structured interviews with 8 professionals working across regional transit equity, navigation case management, homeless coalitions, and food banks[cite: 11].
ERG Qualitative Analysis: Coded interview data using Alderfer’s Existence, Relatedness, and Growth (ERG) framework to categorize physical, interpersonal, and self-improvement needs[cite: 11].
Multi-Perspective Prioritization: Evaluated service-side prevalence against technical feasibility and community-side priorities drawn from prior literature[cite: 11].
Design Fiction Workshop: Developed near-future speculative fictions with social roboticists to evaluate technical capability, effectiveness, and suitability across candidate interventions[cite: 11].

Envisioned Robotic Roles

Non-Judgmental Resource Retrieval: Fixed or kiosk-based conversational agents that provide information on clothing, shelter beds, and forms, reducing the anxiety of interpersonal evaluation or appearing “unprepared”[cite: 11].
Service Navigation & Transit Hubs: Interactive terminals that distill multi-agency social services based on immediate need and print verified transit directions, wiping all user data immediately after interaction[cite: 11].
Human-in-the-Loop Crisis Telepresence: Semi-autonomous emergency call stations that connect individuals in distress directly to trained caseworkers or peer responders rather than dispatching armed law enforcement[cite: 11].