Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
TYLER, Texas — The city’s newest subcontractor is stuck. It’s high noon on a sweaty Texas day in late June, and Dax Flynn cannot figure out a way to cross the street. Flynn is surveying more than 90 miles of sidewalks across Tyler to assess their compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. And here, at the corner of Shelley Drive and Old Bullard Road, Flynn has already hit the first of several bumps along the day’s road.
Because the opposite side of the intersection lacks a ramp to access the sidewalk, there is no safe, rollable way to cross this street without having to battle traffic.
Most city employees would pause for a second to think. Flynn can’t. Thinking is for humans. And this subcontractor is a 3-foot-tall robot that looks like it just rolled out of the Stormtrooper paint factory.
So Flynn starts computing like somebody’s life depends on it.
Traffic accidents kill more than 7,000 pedestrians each year in America. And about 11% of those deaths occur in Texas — a state known for big trucks, open roads and a “don’t mess with” attitude.
Full story: san.com/cc/the-little-robot-that-could-fix-americas-sidewalks/?utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_medium=social&utm_source=youtube&utm_content=owned
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TYLER, Texas — The city’s newest subcontractor is stuck. It’s high noon on a sweaty Texas day in late June, and Dax Flynn cannot figure out a way to cross the street. Flynn is surveying more than 90 miles of sidewalks across Tyler to assess their compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. And here, at the corner of Shelley Drive and Old Bullard Road, Flynn has already hit the first of several bumps along the day’s road.
Because the opposite side of the intersection lacks a ramp to access the sidewalk, there is no safe, rollable way to cross this street without having to battle traffic.
Most city employees would pause for a second to think. Flynn can’t. Thinking is for humans. And this subcontractor is a 3-foot-tall robot that looks like it just rolled out of the Stormtrooper paint factory.
So Flynn starts computing like somebody’s life depends on it.
Traffic accidents kill more than 7,000 pedestrians each year in America. And about 11% of those deaths occur in Texas — a state known for big trucks, open roads and a “don’t mess with” attitude.
Full story: san.com/cc/the-little-robot-that-could-fix-americas-sidewalks/?utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_medium=social&utm_source=youtube&utm_content=owned
Follow Straight Arrow on social media:
Facebook: facebook.com/straightarrownews
X: https://x.com/StraightArrow__
Instagram: instagram.com/straightarrownews
TikTok: tiktok.com/@straightarrownews
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/san.com
Sign up for our newsletters: san.com/newsletters
Stay on top of the news with our app: san.onelink.me/qhTT/social
