Repeated incidents of falling glass in Ontario cities spurred Canadian entrepreneur Filip Sobotka to develop a robot which can carry out detailed, photographic inspections of high-rises. The spider robot, named SAM, will be able to inspect an entire building at a higher level of detail and in less time than a traditional human inspector.

The SAM robot scans a whole building’s exterior in less time and for a fraction of the cost while regular human engineers inspect only a handful of selected spots, he claims.

"When a person’s up there they can make errors, they can miss something, they only have one shot unless they go up again to view it,” Mr. Sobotka told CBC News.

Toronto has been a hotspot for a rising number of accidents involving glass falling from high-rise buildings. These events prompted city officials to pass a zoning law refining the qualifications for balcony glass used in high-rise construction. Despite the new restrictions, incidents of falling glass continue.