In an affluent Southern California suburb known for its meticulously planned neighborhoods and office parks, a new fleet of robots with shiny visors will soon roll down sidewalks and streets on tank-like treads.
It's part of an effort to evaluate accessibility in the city of Irvine. Officials have hired testing and inspection consultancy Bureau Veritas to analyze the city's public right-of-way under the Americans with Disabilities Act, through the use of robots made by Oregon-based Daxbot.
The robots will spread out from the city’s southern neighborhoods to cover more than 9,000 curb ramps and 950 miles of sidewalks. They'll send back real-time data to city staff to help identify needed accessibility upgrades near homes and businesses such as widening narrow walkways, smoothing cracked sidewalks and adding curb ramps.
Irvine's robot fleet marks "a milestone in urban accessibility,” said a statement from Joseph Sullivan, cofounder of Daxbot. “The city is demonstrating how robotics can deliver actionable assessment data in weeks instead of years, benefiting everyone, especially those with disabilities and older adults.”
It’s the latest reminder of how automation is moving into the real estate world, whether it's drones mapping rooftops, machines sorting goods in warehouses or even humanoid property managers greeting tenants at multifamily complexes.
Daxbot’s sidewalk surveyors are loaded with GPS, sensors and positioning technology accurate to within a couple of centimeters. They move at walking speed, yield to pedestrians and beam measurements back to engineers who can use the information to plan upgrades.
Robots and real estate
Irvine's plans to draw up a detailed map of where accessibility fixes are needed most could also help — or pressure — property owners in keeping their own spaces compliant.
This data is part of a growing push among real estate stakeholders to increase efficiency and bolster individual strategies, from safe streets to speedy deliveries. However, the robot rollout is still in somewhat of a nascent stage, with some headwinds in the form of high technology costs and labor disruption.
Amazon alone has more than 1 million robots working in its warehouses and fulfillment centers worldwide, nearly as many as the 1.5 million humans the company employs.
And student housing operator Preiss is testing a humanoid robot called D.O.N.N.A., designed to wave at residents and chat with prospects during tours.
Philomath, Oregon-based Daxbot, meanwhile, has been expanding its accessibility work beyond Irvine. Its robots recently crisscrossed University of Texas campuses in Austin and El Paso to build digital maps of sidewalks and identify problem spots in need of repair.
Cities like Irvine are required to run these ADA self-checks under federal law; and California has its own strict design requirements for accessibility that exceed federal standards. Robots don't change the rules but are used to make the process faster and more precise.