Pluriversal Approach to Co-designing Delivery Robots with People with Disabilities

On-demand, last-mile delivery -- the transportation of goods from a local distribution center to the customer's door within a specified time window -- is used by people with disabilities (PwDs) for a variety of reasons. While delivery robots have potential in this space, they often widen disparities in access for PwDs. Inspired by the concept of pluriversality, which embraces the diversity of worldviews, we facilitated participatory design workshops with PwDs to co-design accessible and equitable delivery robots. Our findings support the importance of delivery robots with varied form factors that are robust and customizable to support diverse PwDs and their respective needs and preferences. We also provide broader considerations for automation in delivery ecosystems.