Abstract To secure conditions of human flourishing in the Anthropocene,
cities are undertaking design projects that can enhance the adaptiveness of
their human ecology. One such design project involves creating new channels
of urban intelligence, which in brief, are new ways of knowing and acting
within the city. In this paper, I discuss the notion of civic robotics as a novel
channel of urban intelligence and examine how they impact human ecology
by conferring power, moderating ethics and shaping social hope. Two nascent
but contrasting examples of civic robotics are presented. The first is Gita,
which is a cargo-companion robot already implemented in Newcastle (UK).
The second is Xavier, which is a public surveillance-sheriff robot that has
been trialled in Singapore. These robots are then evaluated through the lens of
power, ethics and social hope crucial to the project of human flourishing in the
Anthropocene.

Keywords artificial intelligence, urban intelligence, civic robotic, ethics,
Anthropocene