A robot may be spotted roaming the sidewalks of Owen Sound this week.
Why? City officials say a new “smart technology” is being utilized this fall to undertake annual sidewalk inspections.
A statement from the City of Owen Sound explains it has partnered with a Kitchener-Waterloo start-up known as Top Hat Robotics to utilize their sidewalk inspection technology.
Top Hat Robotics produces sidewalk robots for several work-related applications, such as detecting sidewalk deficiencies. The robots utilize state-of-the-art depth cameras to detect lips, cracks, dips and other issues with sidewalks.
According to the city, the robot’s cameras are accurate to within one millimetre — much better than traditional human judgement.
Sidewalk inspections are required by the province once per calendar year. The city says prior to this innovative technology, inspections were labour intensive and took a significant amount of time.
Top Hot Robotics will begin the sidewalk inspections in Owen Sound the week of Sept. 8. An employee of the company will be accompanying the robot as it makes its way around.