Toronto committee calls for ban on robots from sidewalks

If a wheelchair and a robot cross paths, the robot isn't trained to give way I assume.

NIMBY nonsense is nothing new to Toronto city council. And dumb articles like this are nothing new to the CBC, either.

from https://www.blogto.com/tech/2021/12/delivery-robots-toronto-... :

    For those who are vision or mobility impaired in particular, the bots can provide a tripping hazard or physical obstacle, groups like the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance argue, calling tools like Geoffrey a "a substantial and worrisome new disability barrier impeding people with disabilities in their safe use of public sidewalks and other paths of travel."

I'd expect that the oblivious-to-surroundings-until-last-moment-smartphone user would also be likely to trip over these tiny pink delivery robots. Their occasional glance up from their precious smartphone to check for incoming items works for human-sized objects approaching the smartphone user but would most likely miss these one-foot-high delivery bots.

I was surprised at how hostile Canadian cities are for accessibility, until I found out that there's no equivalent to the ADA[0] over there. Something like half the subway stations in Toronto are simply impossible to use for someone in a wheelchair for instance.

I wonder if this ban isn't to give the impression that those in charge are "doing something". It's cheaper to ban a few startups than it is to retrofit stations were engineered to keep handicapped people away.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americans_with_Disabilities_Ac...