Six-Legged Robot Aims to Replace Guide Dogs for the Blind
Shanghai Jiao Tong University
In China, there is approximately one guide dog for every 40,000 blind individuals. To address this shortage and ensure safe navigation for users, researchers are developing a six-legged, AI-enhanced robotic dog.
According to a press release citing the China Blind Association, over 17 million people in China are blind, but there are only slightly more than 400 active guide dogs. Professor Feng Gao and his team at Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s School of Mechanical Engineering are testing a robotic guide dog to bridge this gap.
Low Maintenance Requirements of the Guide Robot
The guide robot only requires regular charging and doesn’t need feeding, expensive individual training, or a steady supply of dog treats.
Unlike its biological counterparts with four legs, it has six, which Lenovo recently claimed provides its Daystar Bot GS model with “unmatched stability and maneuverability.”
The robot uses a suite of sensors, including depth cameras and radar, which feed into machine learning algorithms to aid navigation.
Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Advanced Navigation and Mapping Capabilities of the Robot
However, the robot can generate 3D maps of its environment, position itself within this virtual space, autonomously navigate busy streets, plan paths and routes, dynamically avoid obstacles, and even detect signals at pedestrian crossings.
It can receive voice commands from the user through “deep-learning end-to-end speech recognition models” and also features tactile and force feedback interaction modes. This allows the user to slow down the robot by pulling back on the telescoping pole mounted to its back or speed it up by pushing the “leash.”
The robot’s top speed is 3 meters per second, but it typically operates at speeds between 0.6 and 0.8 m/s. While it functions offline, connecting it enhances its usability within a home environment and in emergencies, allowing it to “lead visually impaired individuals to more places.”
To conclude, Gao’s engineering team is currently field-testing the robotic guide dog and collaborating with Suochen Robot Co for commercialization. Information on the production start date is unavailable, but experts expect the cost per unit to be high. The video below provides more information.
Read the original article on: New Atlas
Read more: Lenovo’s Six-Legged Robotic Dog Unmatched Agility
