By Pam Loch | From BayLines Express, June, 2024
Would you use a robot to guide you like I use my guide dog now? I have been a guide dog user for over 30 years. Last Spring, I was contacted by doctoral students from UMass Amherst to interview me as a guide dog user. They are developing a robot that would be used by the visually impaired. The robot guide was the size of a medium sized dog with four legs and no head or tail. As a follow-up, they made a video of me and my guide dog Ines walking around my town. Finally, they brought the robot back to my home so I could use it on my street. This was all videotaped for their research at UMass. The students were able to make recommendations on how to improve the robot so it is similar to a guide dog. It was very interesting to try the robot myself. The handle on the robot guide was too short, but it could walk at different speeds with a control unit being used by the doctoral student. It felt very comfortable walking straight and making turns on my street. I was unable to give it any verbal commands or hand signals like a live guide dog at this point in the project. I much prefer using a live guide dog because I am such a dog lover. I like being able to give my dog verbal commands and know he will take me safely where I need to go. The robot is definitely a work in progress. I was also sent a video of it maneuvering around obstacles in a college dorm. The robot did very well as it went around barriers. I continue to be involved in the research and write letters to gain more funding for this important project.
In another part of the world
Blind and partially sighted people could soon receive help to find their way in indoor spaces from robot guides currently in development by a university in Scotland. The University of Glasgow has developed a RoboGuide. It is an AI powered four-legged robot which aims to help visually impaired people move more independently in indoor spaces such as museums, shopping centers, hospitals, and other public places in the future.
The project aims to bring a more complete version of technology to the market in the years to come to help support the 2.2 billion people around the world who live with sight loss. For more information check out the following site. https://www.gla.ac.uk/news/headline_1043333_en.html.
From Myra Ross:
On the same topic, “Glide” (https://glidance.io/) is a self-guided mobility device under development, spearheaded by Amos Miller, who many may remember as the primary engineer on Microsoft’s “Soundscape,” discontinued by Microsoft and now reissued by others as “Voice Vista.”
Glide is not just a new mobility aid to help you get around. It’s a category-defining innovation in the world of assistive technologies.