Whittier enlists robots to help city workers map sidewalk conditions

If you work or live in Whittier, you might've noticed there are a few new robots rolling around town. 

They may sound like R2-D2 and have a safety vest like a robot hall monitor, but they're called Dax Bots, and they're helping the city map out sidewalk conditions.

"I was like, what is going on here, this Wall-E walking around," resident Bell Garcia said. 

As Dax rolls along, it scans the ground for cracks or damage to the pavement. 

"Does he wash dishes?" barber Jose Cruz said. 

Unfortunately, Dax can't do household chores, but he, as Andy Craig, vice president of sales at Daxbot, says he'll take care of other jobs. 

"We do dull, dirty and dangerous jobs that people don't want to do," Craig said.

He added that his company has six robots rolling around Whittier, doing that job that he says allows city workers to focus on more important tasks.

"To get a good idea of pedestrian infrastructure, engineers would have to go out and place levels on the ground every five feet, 10 feet," Craig said. "We're talking about 1,000 lunges a mile, long days in the sun. The beauty of it is the robots can work all day."

Daxbots are semi-autonomous and overseen by human operators in Oregon. They've been rolling around Whittier since February and will continue mapping the sidewalks through at least the end of April. 

Craig said the city can use the Daxbot data to do things like fix sidewalks. 

"I don't have a problem with it as long as things are getting fixed," Cruz said. 

Some Whittier works are still on the fence about Dax.

"Maybe, they're recording everything going on in town, secret spies. I don't know," Garcia said. 

The city and Daxbot claim it's not taking jobs away, but rather making way for a friendly, robot- and human-compatible future. 

"Robots are coming," Craig said. "AI is coming. So, let's try to get in front of it and shape this vision."

The city couldn't tell CBS LA over the phone how much the Daxbots cost. We submitted a public records request to find the contract's value.