Leveraging sidewalk robots for walkability-related analyses
2026 (English)In: Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, ISSN 0198-9715, E-ISSN 1873-7587, Vol. 124, article id 102381Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Walkability is a key component of sustainable urban development. In walkability studies, collecting detailed pedestrian infrastructure data remains challenging due to the high costs and limited scalability of traditional methods. Sidewalk delivery robots, increasingly deployed in urban environments, offer a promising solution to these limitations. This paper explores how these robots can serve as mobile data collection platforms, capturing sidewalk-level features related to walkability in a scalable, automated, and real-time manner. A sensor-equipped robot was deployed on a sidewalk network at KTH in Stockholm, completing 101 trips covering 900 segment records. From the collected data, different typologies of features are derived, including robot trip characteristics (e.g., speed, duration), sidewalk conditions (e.g., width, surface unevenness), and sidewalk utilization (e.g., pedestrian density). Their walkability-related implications were investigated with a series of analyses. The results demonstrate that pedestrian movement patterns are strongly influenced by sidewalk characteristics, with higher density, reduced width, and surface irregularity associated with slower and more variable trajectories. Notably, robot speed closely mirrors pedestrian behavior, highlighting its potential as a proxy for assessing pedestrian dynamics. The proposed framework enables continuous monitoring of sidewalk conditions and pedestrian behavior, contributing to the development of more walkable, inclusive, and responsive urban environments.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier BV , 2026. Vol. 124, article id 102381
Keywords [en]
Pedestrian mobility, Sidewalk conditions, Sidewalk robots, Smart cities, Urban data collection, Walkability
National Category
Transport Systems and Logistics Robotics and automation
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-373672DOI: 10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2025.102381ISI: 001629548900001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-105022597951OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kth-373672DiVA, id: diva2:2020713
Note
Correction in doi 10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2026.102442
QC 20260526
2025-12-112025-12-112026-05-26Bibliographically approved