About Robot Island
Robot Island collects speculative case studies created by Cornell Tech students in Dr. Anthony Townsend's Spring 2026 course "Smart Cities: Goals, Platforms, and Futures". These studies explore how life on Roosevelt Island could be improved through responsible future deployments of autonomous vehicles and related urban design interventions.
The Project
Roosevelt Island is a 2-mile-long sliver of land in New York City's East River, home to about 12,000 residents, a major academic campus, parks, hospitals, and historic landmarks. Its compact geography, limited car access, and single main road make it an ideal testing ground for imagining autonomous vehicle futures.
Robot Island asks students to design speculative AV deployments for 20 specific locations across the island — from the Tram Plaza to Lighthouse Park, from Cornell Tech to the Goldwater site. Each case study considers the unique characteristics of its location, the needs of its users, and the broader implications for urban mobility. These findings inform the design of vehicles, services, and the design and management of the built environment with which they interact.
Case Study Types
People Movers
Autonomous transit, shuttles, and on-demand passenger services connecting residents, workers, and visitors across the island and to the broader city.
Goods Movement
Automated delivery, logistics, and supply chain solutions serving the island's residential complexes, hospital campus, and commercial areas.
Civic Services
Autonomous vehicles performing maintenance, waste collection, emergency response, and other public services that keep the island running.
Core Principles
- Place matters. The physical and social characteristics of each location — its terrain, infrastructure, population, and culture — fundamentally shape what autonomous vehicles can and should do there.
- People come first. Successful AV deployments must be designed around the needs and behaviors of the people who live, work, and visit these places — not the other way around.
- Integration is everything. Autonomous vehicles don't operate in isolation. They must connect with existing transit, infrastructure, buildings, and public spaces to create genuine value.