The City of Los Angeles maintains over 11,000 miles of sidewalks. When a sidewalk segment does not settle evenly or has been raised by tree root growth, the sidewalk becomes uneven. This can create pedestrian hazards.  In addition, the City is obligated to ensure that its sidewalks conform to Federal ADA standards, which limit the extent to which a sidewalk may slope.

ABSTRACT / DESCRIPTION: This is the seventh term of a multi-year project. In the last term, a rover has been successfully fabricated. Now, the rover is capable of 1) moving with remote control, 2) measuring crossing slopes and running slopes, 3) collecting  GPS data, and 4) taking photo images. In this term, we will develop a module to measure vertical and horizontal displacement by partnering with the Mechanical Department. In addition, we will continue developing various software by focusing on the following tasks:

Task 1 – Work with the Mechanical Engineering (ME) Department to continue improving the module collecting vertical displacement on the sidewalk – The faculty advisor shall recruit students from the Mechanical Engineering Department to continue to improve the module developed by the previous team to collect vertical displacement.

Task 2 – Integrate the module collecting vertical displacement to a rover – The students shall work with the ME team to physically integrate the module collecting vertical displacement to the rover.

Task 3 – Rewrite the Arduino program from the vertical displacement collation module to a Python program to run it on a Raspberry PI – The students shall rewrite the Arduino program from the previous ME team to a Python program so that the vertical displacement can be measured and stored into the rover.     

Task 4 – Perform field tests at Echo Park to assess the system and collect sidewalk data. – The students shall perform extensive field tests to prepare the system for deployment, including field tests at Echo Park field.