Meet Dax, the sidewalk-scanning robot helping US cities fix footpaths

Washington: White, short and rolling slowly down city sidewalks, a new figure is appearing in cities across the US. Its name is Dax, and its job is to make sidewalks safer.

Developed by an Oregon-based robotics firm, the Daxbot made its curbside debut this summer in Bangor, Maine; Hoboken, New Jersey; Hollister, California; Tyler, Texas; and Hilton Head, South Carolina.

Moving at walking pace, Dax continuously surveys sidewalks, measuring gradients, width and vertical changes – work normally done by a surveyor crew. The data is packaged and sent to city planners to triage which sidewalks most urgently need repair.

The job is more critical than it sounds. As Straight Arrow News reported from Tyler, surveying black asphalt under a July Texas sun is harsh, and finding crews willing to do it is difficult.

Cities like Hoboken and Tyler are pursuing Vision Zero goals to eliminate pedestrian traffic deaths, and level, well-maintained sidewalks are seen as key. For strollers, bikes, scooters or skateboards, a tree root that lifts a sidewalk slab is not just an obstacle, but a nudge onto the road. Nine in 10 pedestrian deaths occur on the road surface, not the sidewalk.

The danger was underscored when a Dax unit in Tyler was hit on a crosswalk by a truck making a right turn.”Hoboken has become a national model for street safety because we’ve consistently invested in making our streets work better for everyone,” Mayor Emily Jabbour said. “By combining innovative technology like Daxbot with feedback from residents and guidance from accessibility advocates, we’ll better understand where improvements are needed…”