RFID-Equipped Robots Used as Guide Dogs

Roland Piquepaille writes "A professor in computer science at the Utah State University (USU) is building robots to help people with disabilities, according to the Utah Statesman in this article. The story, which is more focused on the professor than robotics, carries several anecdotes, such as an embarrassing voice recognition system. After a blind man cleared his throat, the robot misinterpreted the sound as a sign that the man wanted to go to the bathroom. Later, every time a man cleared his throat before speaking, the robot changed directions and insisted to guide him to the restrooms. Even if the article is entertaining, this project at USU is far more ambitious. In fact, they want to design RFID-enabled robots mounted on mobile carts which will welcome blind persons at the entrance of a supermarket and guide them through the store. I bet you'll never find those carts at a Wal-Mart store, but read more for other details, references and pictures about these RFID-equipped robots designed to help blind people."

Comments

Dogs robots

[KanSer]

Part of the benefit of having a guide dog is that it can be a true companion to a blind person, and many times more trustworhty than a robot. A dog isn't going to crash and require a reboot, and kibble is easier to figure out than rechargeable batteries.

That said, computers and robotics are a reflection of their creators. I guess I trust dogs a whole lot more. A dog can also provide protection against burglars. The benefits of dogs over robots goes on and on.

Article Text minus the spam

[Anonymous Coward]

RFID-Equipped Robots Used as Guide Dogs

A professor in computer science at the Utah State University (USU) is building robots to help people with disabilities, according to the Utah Statesman in this article . The story, which is more focused on the professor than robotics, carries several anecdotes, such as an embarrassing voice recognition system. After a blind man cleared his throat, the robot misinterpreted the sound as a sign that the man wanted to go to the bathroom. Later, every time a man cleared his throat before speaking, the robot changed directions and insisted to guide him to the restrooms. Even if the article is entertaining, this project at USU is far more ambitious. In fact, they want to design RFID-enabled robots mounted on mobile carts which will welcome blind persons at the entrance of a supermarket and guide them through the store. I bet you'll never find those carts at a Wal-Mart store, but read more...

First, let's look in detail at the failure of the voice recognition system.

Vladimir Kulyukin, assistant professor in the department of computer science, works jointly as a computer science researcher and for the

Center for Persons with Disabilities . He said he had an especially embarrassing moment here at the Center for Persons with Disabilities involving a robot and a speech recognition system.

"We figured we could speak to the robot in English, and using the voice recognition system the robot would interpret the commands and obey them. I quickly realized that just wasn't possible," he said.

He said a blind man found the glitch in the system when he cleared his throat and the robot misunderstood the sound to mean the man wanted to go to the bathroom.

"Every time the man cleared his throat, the robot would immediately change directions and guide him into the bathroom," he said. "It was an especially embarrassing moment in my research," he added.

Of course, this is only a very small part of the project, which will deploy radio frequency identification (RFID) tags for use in robot-assisted indoor navigation for the visually impaired.

"Simply speaking, we are trying to develop a robot for use as a mobile grocery cart used for the blind in supermarkets," he said. "The robot would meet the blind person at the door and, by the push of a button, would lead the person to different areas of the store."

Kulyukin said the robot would ideally be mounted on mobile carts, but the level of funding for the technology here at USU is not sufficient for marketing the project.

But they already built prototypes. And below are two pictures showing this RFID-equipped robotic guide (RG) for visually impaired people (Credit: Vladimir Kulyukin)

For more information, here is a link to Vladimir Kulyukin home page -- which is not always available. From there, you'll have access to various pages covering his research interests and his publications.

You might also want to read a paper named "RFID in Robot-Assisted Indoor Navigation for the Visually Impaired," available as a PDF document (6 pages, 124 KB). Here is the abstract.

We describe how Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) can be used in robot-assisted indoor navigation for the visually impaired. We present a robotic guide for the visually impaired that was deployed and tested both with and without visually impaired participants in two indoor environments. We describe how we modified the sta

Re:Article Text minus the spam

[antifoidulus]

I think you just violated Piquepaille's EULA, you will be hearing from his lawyers. The gall of some people, trying to get rid of the middleman....

What?

[contagious_d]

I always read the last part of this guys submissions first. It scared me.

"designed to help blind people"

Not at Walmart?

[bvankuik]

Submitter says you would probably not see there at Walmart, but those ultra commercial companies are exactly the place I expect them. Those robots could recognize customers by their voice, fingerprint (blind people will touch them) or simply customer card. Them they can make all posts of suggestions.

"Our store brand of coffee is cheaper, sir"
"Last time you had cheese on your list"

I can even come up with things lawmakers would think of, like forbidding Robby the Robot to suggest cigarettes or liquor.

Re:Not at Walmart?

[Khith]

I actually work as one of those greeters (which isn't as easy as it sounds, most of the time), so I know the carts you speak of and the people who use them.

I've not once had a blind person driving one of those things. They're just motorized carts. They don't know where you want to go.

Hell, I don't trust some of the sighted people with driving those things! They'll forget how to stop (let go of the controls, it's not hard!) and end up hitting the wall, the door, merchandise, or you.

The blind people who DO enter are almost always accompanied by a friend who helps them through the store. (even when they have a service dog)

please yourself

[bluGill]

The blind face two distinct but related problems: finding the destination, and getting there safely. A dog or cane is an excellent tool to get to the destination safely (in part because sighted people recognize them and give extra space), but they do nothing for the other problem.

I've helped several blind people find the location of something they were 10 feet from. They were pretty sure they were close, but didn't know where to go next. Their dog would keep them on the sidewalk, but had no idea that they wanted to enter the building not go past it.

I studied this issue (about 10 years ago), and at that time all technology to solve the second problem was much worse than a dog or a cane. However there was promise in technology to solve the first problem. In fact I said at the time (and other experts agreed) that there was unlikely to ever be technology that would replace a dog/cane. However technology was very likely to supplement those tools to help the blind get to their destination.