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Roadworks Watch: Robots to replace workers on Sussex roads

1:12pm Friday 14th October 2011 in News By James Wallin

Roadworks Watch Roadworks Watch

ROBOTS are set to replace humans at some roadworks.

East Sussex County Council is trialling a system which replaces the traditional workman holding a stop-go sign with a robotic equivalent.

The authority says a set of robo-boards cost £75 a week, compared to approximately £750 for a pair of workers holding signs.

Over a year the cost works out at £39,000 for two workers holding signs and £3,900 for the robotic road workers.

The council claims the boards reduce costs and are much safer as they avoid the potential for workers holding the signs getting injured.

If the trial is successful it could become the norm for roadworks across the county.

Councillor Carl Maynard said: “Using the robo-boards allows us to set up the roadwork site in a faster and more efficient way.

“They will save money on extra roadwork teams and are also much safer as they can be operated by remote control and so do not require someone standing in the road.”

Some of the roadworks that could hold up your journey today:

A259 Marine Parade Brighton. Resurfacing work between the Sea Life Centre roundabout and Lower Rock Gardens.

Viaduct Road, Brighton, roadworks from junction with Preston Circus.

Related links

King George VI Avenue, West Blatchington, gas main works at the Nevill Road junction.

South Coast Road, Peacehaven, works by East Sussex County Council and EDF Energy.

South Street, Lewes. Water mains works.

A259 Worthing. Gas main works and temporary traffic lights in Goring Road between the Pembroke Avenue junction and the Brooklyn Avenue junction.

Southwick Street in Southwick. Water mains work.

A2032 Littlehampton Road, Worthing. Lane closure on eastbound carriageway for one day to allow tree cutting to take place.

Every day we will update the Roadworks Watch map above. You can let us know of any problems on our commute by emailing news@theargus.co.uk or call the newsdesk on 01273 544519.

Comments(12)

Servalan says...
1:28pm Fri 14 Oct 11

how about they replace ALL the human workers with robots? As I'm quite sure technology already exists for a robot to stand around for 8 hours drinking tea and doing bugger all else.

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brightonian57 says...
1:49pm Fri 14 Oct 11

' East Sussex County Council is trialling a system which replaces the traditional workman holding a stop-go sign' with a robotic equivalent.Surely they already are. They're called Traffic lights.

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GIVE UP says...
2:21pm Fri 14 Oct 11

ROBOT SIGNS? It would have been a good idea to of had a video of this so called robot in action, and does it use public transport to get to work?

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Servalan says...
2:29pm Fri 14 Oct 11

yes but Brightonian57, robots would be much better than traffic lights, as the robots could be armed with a dazzling James-Bond-style array of gadgets with which to attack and apprehend drivers who broke the lights.

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Falstaff says...
2:39pm Fri 14 Oct 11

What is the difference between robot workers and a temporary set of traffic lights? Anybody?

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Roundbill says...
3:08pm Fri 14 Oct 11

Falstaff wrote:
What is the difference between robot workers and a temporary set of traffic lights? Anybody?
I don't know - what IS the difference between robot workers and a temporary set of traffic lights?

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Servalan says...
3:17pm Fri 14 Oct 11

Now Roundbill, would Star Wars have been such a massive success if the parts of R2-D2 and C3PO had been played by a pair of TEMPORARY TRAFFIC LIGHTS??? I really don't think so.

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Morpheus says...
5:33pm Fri 14 Oct 11

Roundbill wrote:
Falstaff wrote:
What is the difference between robot workers and a temporary set of traffic lights? Anybody?
I don't know - what IS the difference between robot workers and a temporary set of traffic lights?
The answer is given by Coun Maynard. We all know that traffic lights work automatically, but the new robot sign has a man controlling it remotely from a safe position. Think of the jobs that could be created if we got rid of all the automatic traffic light and had remote controlled lights!

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Thatsjustyummy says...
7:06pm Fri 14 Oct 11

There's already a solution for this 'problem' and one that it seems councils all over the country are keen to embrace.

Temporary Traffic Lights.

Most of them are completely unnecessary too.

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Dr Pork says...
8:23pm Fri 14 Oct 11

This is going to end badly. The roboboards will develop intelligence and turn on us or they will get hacked into by Al Qaeda who'll use them to create even more traffic chaos, particularly in West Blatchington, which they've had their eye on for some time.

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bilko62 says...
10:41am Sat 15 Oct 11

Somehow I'll miss the odd mad Irishman playing silly devils with a stop/go board !

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nocando says...
1:37pm Sat 15 Oct 11

On the flipside of the mad irishman comment, you also get clued up workers making sensible traffic decisions based on what they can actually see that no robot could ever emulate. You might just as well have one bloke with 2 bits of string sitting under a tree controlling traffic. Automatic sign flipping mechanisms don't sound like much of a technological breakthrough to me.

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