Researchers at the university have formed a new spin out company called Robotiz3d Ltd to take forward the new road maintenance technology.

The technology uses Artificial Intelligence and robotics to significantly improve the way road defects, including pot holes and road cracks, are detected and repaired.

Dr Paolo Paoletti, who will serve as Chief Technology Officer for the company, said: “Robotiz3d Ltd will develop an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven robotic system to address the national and international potholes problems.

“The proposed system will be able to autonomously detect and characterize road defects such as cracks and potholes, assess and predict the severity of such defects and fix cracks so that they do not evolve into potholes.”

Dr Sebastiano Fichera, Technical Director of the company, added: “Current methods to detect and repair of potholes are labour intensive and as such are slow, unsafe, and costly to the economy and environment.

“The new technology we are developing will make road maintenance tasks faster, cheaper, and cleaner and ultimately make roads safer and more accessible.”