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Abstract:
Using the iRobot Roomba Create, I have prototyped a device called eyeRobot. It will guide blind and visually impaired users through cluttered and populated environments by using the Roomba as a base to marry the simplicity of the traditional white cane with the instincts of a seeing-eye dog. The user indicates his/her desired motion by intuitively pushing on and twisting the handle. The robot takes this information and finds a clear path down a hallway or across a room, using sonar to steer the user in a suitable direction around static and dynamic obstacles. The user then follows behind the robot as it guides the user in the desired direction by the noticeable force felt through the handle. This robotic option requires little training: push to go, pull to stop, twist to turn. The foresight the rangefinders provide is similar to a seeing eye dog, and is a considerable advantage over the constant trial and error that marks the use of the white cane. Yet eyeRobot still provides a much cheaper alternative than guide dogs, which cost over $12,000 and are useful for only 5 years, while the prototype was built for well under $400. It is also a relatively simple machine, requiring a few inexpensive sensors, various potentiometers, some hardware, and of course, a Roomba Create.
Using the iRobot Roomba Create, I have prototyped a device called eyeRobot. It will guide blind and visually impaired users through cluttered and populated environments by using the Roomba as a base to marry the simplicity of the traditional white cane with the instincts of a seeing-eye dog. The user indicates his/her desired motion by intuitively pushing on and twisting the handle. The robot takes this information and finds a clear path down a hallway or across a room, using sonar to steer the user in a suitable direction around static and dynamic obstacles. The user then follows behind the robot as it guides the user in the desired direction by the noticeable force felt through the handle. This robotic option requires little training: push to go, pull to stop, twist to turn. The foresight the rangefinders provide is similar to a seeing eye dog, and is a considerable advantage over the constant trial and error that marks the use of the white cane. Yet eyeRobot still provides a much cheaper alternative than guide dogs, which cost over $12,000 and are useful for only 5 years, while the prototype was built for well under $400. It is also a relatively simple machine, requiring a few inexpensive sensors, various potentiometers, some hardware, and of course, a Roomba Create.
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It seems to me that you are approaching this with the notion that a person using a cane must bumble along in the hopes of finding a clear path, whereas a service animal sees and thinks about an obstruction-free route from origin to destination. With respect, that’s sighted-people-thinking. We blind folks don’t do that, and in fact we don’t want to do that.
I’ll do my best to explain why.
A cane user moves from origin to destination mainly by moving in straight lines, going from landmark to landmark (or static obstacle to static obstacle, in your way of thinking). Static obstacles that are familiar to us help us know where we are in relation to the world around us. Static obstacles that we do not know serve as waypoints to get back to wherever we were before we decided to go wherever we are going. We will tend to take the same route between two places until we become more familiar with an area to reduce the number of surprises.
When you encounter a dynamic obstacle with a cane (ie, a person or other thing that won’t be there later), you simply go around it and continue on your way.
Working with service animals is a little different. The dog will tend to take you around all obstacles automatically, unless you slow down and approach an obstacle to identify it. It’s a little different in appearance to an uninitiated sighted observer, but the navigation by waypoints is fundamentally the same. It’s just that the cane user will "run right into something" (that is, find it with their cane, often intentionally) before going around or whatever is necessary, whereas the dog will indicate to the user the presence of something in the path by leading the user around it.
The person using the cane or dog must still know how to find their way from place to place, cross streets, recognize and navigate hazards, etc. The dog doesn’t "see for you" in any real sense. But most dog users do walk faster than most cane users. Personally, I prefer the cane, but I'm not an animal person. The reason nobody has managed to replace the $35 cane with high-tech solutions yet is that the high-tech solutions don’t work everywhere a basic cane or a well-trained dog will. Doesn’t mean it can’t be done, just that the people trying thus far have not been thinking about how many environments blind people traverse and what exactly they expect the replacement to do for them.
And um, for those wondering, I’ve been using talking computers since 1982. My first was an Apple ][e with an Echo synthesizer. In the past 30 years, we’ve managed a FEW advances in the state of the art. ;) Undescribed images are a problem for those with little/no residual vision, and CAPTCHAs are just annoying, but otherwise we can usually manage.
Many people with a significant visual impairment have some degree of residual vision. Hence to be blind doesn't mean pitch darkness. It often means a slight amount of vision remaining that is not enough to function.
Hence the visually impaired can use things like magnifiers, screen readers (It reads out the text on screen), self voicing for typing (Windows 7 is using this).
I love ressurecting threads for justice!
I have been working on a handheld device, That gives audio feedback according to distance, And when its done I may actually be able to fit it in old television remotes.
Of course its not as elaborate as this project, And requires people to train themselves to recognize what the sounds mean, But at least there are some guinea pigs(neighbors) close by, That are visually impaired.
But I really like this idea, Good job.
I remember that some of the people that worked there (including doctors) tried to get it to crash into them....
You said hospital - it reminded me of that.... You read it - you can't unread it :p