VOTERS featured in Boston Globe
Versatile Onboard Traffic Embedded Roaming Sensors (VOTERS) was featured in the Boston Globe for their van which detects where potholes and road problems are as it is driving.
VOTERS was also featured last month in the Northeastern Magazine for their innovative design which they hope to commercialize allowing all cars to monitor our road conditions.
Source: Northeastern Magazine
Every year, New England weather seems to produce a perfect storm for potholes—the scourge of urban transportation. A team of faculty and students, led by civil and environmental engineering professors Ming Wang and Sara Wadia-Fascetti, aims to make potholes extinct and shore up the country’s road infrastructure.
Their inexpensive approach centers on inspection and cybermonitoring through the use of vehicles already on city streets, such as taxis, delivery trucks, police cars, and vans. Versatile Onboard Traffic Embedded Roaming Sensors, or VOTERS, detect surface and subsurface trouble spots using innovative sensing methods and optical systems—essentially identifying problems before they happen. Data and measurements are fed to a computer for analysis, then sent to those responsible for repairs and maintenance. Hazardous and expensive work zones for road assessment could be a thing of the past—as could potholes.
Wang says he’s been working for several months on commercializing the technology, which he hopes will eventually be built into every car to monitor the health of the country’s roads.
That’s good news for every axle and tire in our driveways.
Video from CBS Boston
Video from NECN