{"id":1027015,"date":"2026-08-27T08:00:29","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T08:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1027015\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T08:00:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T08:00:29","slug":"robots-will-soon-roam-a-san-antonio-suburbs-sidewalks-heres-why-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1027015\/","title":{"rendered":"Robots will soon roam a San Antonio suburb&#8217;s sidewalks. Here&#8217;s why"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Robots will soon be roaming near the San Antonio area. Though it may sound daunting to some Texans, project leaders say it&#8217;s for a good cause, and privacy is top of mind.<\/p>\n<p>Universal City, located 19 miles north of San Antonio, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/share\/p\/1BrjEFj52D\/\" data-link=\"native\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">announced<\/a> on Tuesday, August 25, that a team of small bots will soon be deployed as part of its commitment to comply with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards. The initiative is in partnership with Oregon-based <a href=\"https:\/\/daxbot.com\/faq\" data-link=\"native\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">Daxbot<\/a>, which creates cyborgs capable of measuring elements such as sidewalk depth, surface conditions and potential walking hazards.<\/p>\n<p>The devices will collect data along 12 miles of busy sidewalk corridors, gathering measurements that help &#8220;develop a detailed, ground-truth record of pedestrian infrastructure,&#8221; according to Universal City. The information will be mapped and analyzed, giving engineers and planners a better understanding of areas that might impede those with mobility issues.<\/p>\n<p>Gathered data will be used to design a capital improvement program to fix those spots, according to City Manager Kim Turner.<\/p>\n<p>Representatives say folks might come into contact with the machines, a possibility that could evoke uneasiness or excitement among some patrons. When approached, the droids won&#8217;t record video unless a safety incident occurs, according to a city press release. A handler will be observing them nearby while they are out, said Randy Luensmann, Universal City&#8217;s director of Public Works, at a <a href=\"https:\/\/cityofuniversalcity.app.box.com\/s\/08aphegytyxm1lyiehjdbh3fd48554r8\" data-link=\"native\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">meeting<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Basically, they cannot talk to you. They make little R2-D2 (Star Wars character) noises when they&#8217;re out there,&#8221; Luensmann said. &#8220;We don&#8217;t want to encourage nobody to be in the way of them so they can do the data collection. But if you&#8217;re out there and you want to get a picture with them &#8230; it&#8217;ll actually stop, and you can be able to take a picture if you&#8217;re out there.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Turner tells MySA that no personal tracking is enabled, meaning the bots &#8220;do not record or store facial images, personal details, or private interactions with pedestrians.&#8221; Additionally, Daxbots &#8220;do not log or track vehicle license plates,&#8221; unlike automated traffic enforcement systems.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The cameras capture ground photos exclusively focused on the physical condition of the pedestrian infrastructure being assessed,&#8221; Turner said. &#8220;Specifically, noting slip, trip, or fall obstacles, slopes or grade of ground, location of ADA ramps and the like.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Beginning the week of Monday, September 7, Daxbots will survey segments of the following corridors:\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Mainly, the bots will be out during daylight hours. Luensmann says the city doesn&#8217;t expect them to be deployed for more than two weeks, weather permitting.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Residents who encounter a Dax robot are encouraged to treat it as they would any road maintenance crew,&#8221; a press release states. &#8220;Daxbot keeps an on-site crew, which will respond if any maintenance or repairs are needed.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Robots will soon be roaming near the San Antonio area. Though it may sound daunting to some Texans,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1026380,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5133],"tags":[5229,325910,37065,7202,7203,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-1027015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-america","tag-mysanews","tag-mysastaff","tag-san-antonio","tag-sanantonio","tag-texas","tag-tx","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117166422394970720","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1027015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1027015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1027015\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1026380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1027015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1027015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1027015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}