CMU develops new camera to assess road damage in Pittsburgh, US

The city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US, is reportedly employing a new camera developed by the Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) to identify rugged roadways for repair.

Developed by CMU’s Robotics Institute senior project scientist Christoph Mertz, the camera is said to be capable to capture images of the street and measure the severity of potholes, cracks and other irregularities in roads, TribLIVE.com reported.

Mertz claimed that his technology is cheaper than the laser and camera technology used by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) to assess road conditions.

“What we’re hoping to do is to be able to collect data on all of our street segments so we can pay more attention to which need the most attention.”

Mertz said: “While I drive around, I can record data. That way, I don’t have to pay an extra person to do that.”

Designed to be installed onboard garbage trucks, buses and other vehicles traversing city streets, the camera is said to more accurate and time-efficient than the city’s manual inspections.

While the technology has been tested by the city in three vehicles over the past several months, Mertz hopes to install cameras in garbage trucks, as they cover 1,100m of roads every week, to capture images and explore the cracks.

A GPS tracker correlates the images with coordinates plotted on a map.

Pittsburgh department of public works deputy director Lee Haller said the city seeks to collect data about poor road conditions before fully implementing the programme, and urged Mertz to refine the algorithm to better distinguish manhole covers and grates from road damage.

Haller said: “What we’re hoping to do is to be able to collect data on all of our street segments so we can pay more attention to which need the most attention.”

According to the publication, the city has partnered with CMU’s Traffic21 Institute to design and test the technology.