A university has developed a talking robot guide dog to help the blind - powered by sophisticated AI.
Experts from the University of Glasgow have partnered with leading charities to develop the RoboGuide.
The four legged robot is designed to help blind people navigate through public spaces independently.
The prototype uses a series of sensors on the dog-shaped body to map and assess its surroundings, paired with software which enables it to interpret the data and avoid obstacles in real time.
Experts from the University of Glasgow have partnered with leading charities to develop the RoboGuide.
The four legged robot is designed to help blind people navigate through public spaces independently.
The prototype uses a series of sensors on the dog-shaped body to map and assess its surroundings, paired with software which enables it to interpret the data and avoid obstacles in real time.
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TechTranscript
00:00 The RoboGuide project develops an assistive robotic dog to help blind persons navigate
00:06 indoor spaces.
00:07 When we are developing something like this, it's a mixture of several things.
00:13 The first challenge is how to learn the environment.
00:17 Outdoor, GPS performs excellently and that's why we use them for our cars and our maps
00:23 on our phones.
00:24 These spaces are subject to deteriorating GPS signals.
00:30 We use computer vision, we use 3D technology where it scans the whole environment and it
00:36 understands where each object, each pillar, each obstacle is and it memorizes or remembers
00:43 that.
00:44 The second thing is object or obstacle avoidance.
00:48 We develop that using multiple sensors.
00:51 We developed some SLAM algorithms, simultaneous localization and mapping algorithms to help
00:57 the robot navigate its way in an indoor location.
01:02 The third technology that we integrated in there, interactivity.
01:06 We've integrated some large language models to this solution so it can have intelligent
01:12 conversations.
01:14 We wanted to test this technology with the end user.
01:17 The end users in this case were blind and partially sighted people.
01:22 We're privileged to be invited along here, along with our partners RNIB, to test out
01:28 some of the various pieces of kit that the university are developing.
01:32 So it's all with a view to improving life for people with sight loss.
01:37 They did the practical evaluation of the development technology which is very important to judge
01:44 where we are and what we have developed.
01:46 A hundred percent I would use this in the future personally as well as there's a lot
01:51 of people I know that would definitely either want to try this or would definitely use it.
01:57 We want to put this technology onto a wheeled robot.
02:02 We also want to put this, a normal humanoid robot and also such kind of dog robot so that
02:09 the end user, they have different choices to make.
02:14 And what we want to maximise without bamboozling people is the amount of choices that they
02:19 have so they can find a level of technical support, product support that they personally
02:24 are comfortable with that helps to take them on in their journey.