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RoboGuide makes use of refined sensors and AI to assist visually impaired customers work together with the world round them. Credit: Royal National Institute of Blind People
Visually impaired folks might quickly have the ability to use AI-powered robotic service dogs to navigate the world round them. Researchers from the University of Glasgow, together with trade and charity companions, have unveiled RoboGuide.
The robotic makes use of synthetic intelligence to not solely help its customers to maneuver independently, but additionally to talk to them about what’s occurring round them. RoboGuide employs quite a lot of cutting-edge applied sciences mounted onto an off-the-shelf robotic physique, according to the University of Glasgow.
RoboGuide depends on laptop imaginative and prescient to navigate
RoboGuide isn’t the first robotic assistant developed for visually impaired folks. Another instance is Gilde from MassRobotics resident startup and Pitchfire winner Glidance Inc.
The University of Glasgow researchers stated RoboGuide does handle two vital challenges for such robots. The first is that the know-how these robots use to navigate their environment can restrict their usefulness as guides.
“Robots which use GPS to navigate, for example, can perform well outdoors, but often struggle in indoor settings, where signal coverage can weaken,” stated Dr. Olaoluwa Popoola, the venture’s principal investigator on the University of Glasgow’s James Watt School of Engineering. “Others, which use cameras to see, are limited by line of sight, which makes it harder for them to safely guide people around objects or around bends.”
RoboGuide is supplied with a collection of refined sensors to precisely map its setting.
“We use computer vision and 3D technology, where it scans the whole environment and it understands where each object, each pillar, each obstacle is,” stated Dr. Wasim Ahmad, venture co-investigator.
The group has developed software program that assesses the mapping knowledge and makes use of simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) algorithms to decide optimum routes from one location to a different. The software program interprets sensor knowledge in actual time, enabling the robotic to trace and keep away from transferring obstacles.
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University of Glasgow provides interactivity
In addition to improved navigation, RoboGuide contains the power to speak to its person. The robotic makes use of a big language mannequin (LLM) — much like the know-how that powers ChatGPT — to know and reply to questions from folks round it.
LLMs are deep learning algorithms that course of pure language inputs, similar to spoken questions, and predicts responses based mostly on these inputs. RoboGuide’s AI is educated on huge knowledge units of language to have the ability to predict and generate context-appropriate responses to questions and instructions.
RoboGuide not too long ago reached a big milestone in its improvement. In December 2023, volunteers with visible impairments examined it for the primary time.
The quadruped robotic guided them by way of the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow. RoboGuide helped the volunteers tour reveals on the primary ground and supplied interactive spoken data on six reveals.
The outcomes have been promising. “One hundred percent I would use this in the future,” stated volunteer Kyle Somerville (see video beneath). “As well, there are a lot of people I know that would definitely either want to try this or would definitely use it.”
More refinements to return
The analysis group plans to make use of knowledge from this demonstration to additional refine the RoboGuide platform, with the purpose of bringing a extra full model to market.
“Ultimately, our aim is to develop a complete system which can be adapted for use with robots of all shapes and sizes to help blind and partially sighted people in a wide range of indoor situations,” stated Ahmad. “We hope that we can create a robust commercial product which can support the visually impaired wherever they might want extra help.”
The World Health Organization has estimated that 2.2 billion folks worldwide stay with impaired imaginative and prescient. Assistive units similar to RoboGuide may make it vital simpler for his or her customers to stay extra independently and improve their high quality of life.
About the writer
Matt Greenwood is an skilled author with greater than 20 years of expertise in public-sector communications.
