ERIN – Keeping up with the ever-evolving world of technology, the Town of Erin has employed a robot to roll around town inspecting sidewalks.
This is the second year the town has contracted the services of the sidewalk inspecting robot, for a fee of $1,400 plus HST, from the Kitchener-Waterloo based company Top Hat Robotics.
The town was initially contacted last year by the startup company to participate in its pilot program.
“We were approached to see if we wanted to be involved in the initial roll out of this gathering system, so we said ‘sure, come on out and we’ll participate in it,’” said Kevin Watson, the town’s roads supervisor.
“Any new data collecting systems that you can take advantage of, you should.”
The inspection began on Aug. 16 and the four-foot-tall robot will roam around the town for three days before heading off to its next job.
Watson said the town was satisfied with last year’s results and decided to invite the robot back this year.
“We looked at the data last year and we were very taken as to the accuracy of it because I had actually gone out and walked the whole system first and identified areas and it identified the same areas as I did,” he said.
Using a camera system located around the machine, the information gathering system scans and identifies flaws in the sidewalk, from cracks to elevation changes.
From there it uploads the data to a mapping system which provides the exact location and details of the repairs.
Watson noted the machine is not yet autonomous and must be manned by someone using a controller, adding he believes the company is working towards a machine that will be able to operate on its own.
“I think they were actively seeking that kind of thing so that in time this little unit could actually do other things than just survey sidewalks,” Watson said.
“It may be able to plow them in the winter and have different functions like that.”
Watson added he’s not very trusting of autonomous things yet but said it would definitely be something to look into.
“It’s going to be hard for them to function I think because they’ll have to watch out for people walking and cars coming out of driveways and things like that,” he said.
“But I’m quite sure with robotics and mechanics nowadays they can actually overcome those things and create something that’s quite viable.”
Watson noted the town completes an annual review of sidewalks and compiles an inventory of anything that needs to be repaired or replaced.
He explained the data collected from the machine is in some ways a lot more effective than going out himself and checking the sidewalks.
“It will have certain tiers of data. The ones that are needing to be repaired right away or something that can wait,” he said.
“It would break down the data and present it to you as a need to fix now/can wait type of thing.”
He added there are many benefits to having access to the robot for future planning and budgeting.
“Any time that you can take advantage of any data collection system like this is good,” he said. “It’s cutting edge, it’s great information and the way it’s presented after it’s collected is very professional and easy to read.
“Then you can keep that data for the next year and compare it to the year before just to see the decline of your sidewalks so that you can actually be ready … to replace sections of the sidewalk.”
