Canadian civil servants fear being ‘spyed upon’ with robots at work

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A robot made by a Toronto-based company is raising eyebrows among civil servants who fear they are being “spyed upon.”

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GlobalDWS specializes in robotic platform integration and service bot implementation. One of his products briefly appeared in federal office buildings in Gatineau earlier this year and is set to return from July to October.

According to CBC, the product, which contains 20 sensors and a 360-degree camera, is said to collect data on occupancy, air quality, light, noise, humidity, temperature and gas levels.

It has been dubbed the “little robot” by workers in Ottawa, who cite privacy and data concerns. Meanwhile, the government says the robot does not identify individual employees and aims to improve environmental health and safety.

The government is paying $39,663 to lease the robot for two years, CBC reports.

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Bruce Roy, president of the Government Services Union, characterized the robot as “a spy for management”.

“We think one of the jobs of the robot is to monitor who’s there and who’s not,” he told the CBC.

From September, civil servants in the core public administration who are eligible for a hybrid working arrangement will be required to work on-site at least three days a week.

“People say, why is there a robot here?” Roy added. “Doesn’t my employer trust that I’m here and doing my job properly?”

Jean-Yves Duclos, the minister of public services and public procurement, rejected the claim that the robot is being used to enforce back-to-office rules.

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Instead, he told the CBC that the data collected by the robot will be useful as the government prepares to reduce office space in the coming years.

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“These robots, as we call them, these sensors observe the use of office space and will be able to provide us with information over the next few years to better provide the type of workplaces that employees need to do their jobs,” Duclos said.

“These are completely anonymous methods that allow us to assess which spaces are most used and which spaces are not used, so we can arrange them better.”

However, Roy said there are still concerns about the data the robot collects and the routines it observes, such as employee bathroom breaks, and how that data is stored and used.

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Yahya Saad, co-founder of GlobalDWS, told CBC the bot does not capture identifying information and deletes images unless otherwise requested.

Autonomous mobile workplace robots (AMRs) have grown in popularity in recent years, claiming to increase efficiency and safety in the workplace, among other measures.

Pittsburgh-based Aethon manufacturers robots to solve “pressing workforce availability challenges” and aims to “enhance the workplace experience” by automating tasks and increasing operational efficiency.

The OTTO 1500, a heavy-duty robot from Kitchener-based Otto Motors, moves large pallets and heavy items in warehouses and manufacturing facilities. It also stated its intention to optimize workflow and reduce manual work.

Other workplace robots specialize in transporting supplies and materials, picking and sorting products, and streamlining workplace operations.

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