[nagdu] Well everyone, time to give up our dogs

Wed May 23 16:46:21 UTC 2012

It's even more than thinking our dogs hate their jobs.  It's assuming that
giving us directions will make our dogs unnecessary.  Like Tami says, I
just tell Ben "Room 402", and off he goes.
I would really like to have a working app like this.  It might make going
to the mall less of a trial.  But the people who wrote the article are
completely clueless about guide dogs.
Tracy, wishing I loved my job as much as Ben loves his.

> I will be sure to let Dayton know that soon, his heart will be broken on
> a daily basis as I can now leave him home thanks to science!  No work,
> ever again, poor poor abused and unloved dog who hates his job so much.
> This kind of thing makes me so so sick.  I am so tired of people who
> think these dogs do not like their job.  If they don't like the work,
> they are adopted out, not asked to do the work.  People can be so dense
> sometimes.
>
> Meghan
> On 5/22/2012 5:55 PM, Margo and Arrow wrote:
>> Oh, so, we just use guide dogs indoors and this is supposed to help us
>> get anywhere we want to go?  Uh, no, not!
>>
>> Margo andArrow
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Aaron Cannon"
>> <cannona at fireantproductions.com>
>> To: "NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users"
>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2012 6:51 PM
>> Subject: [nagdu] Well everyone, time to give up our dogs
>>
>>
>> Wow!  Just wow!  I'll let the article speak for itself.  Just be sure
>> not to miss the priceless quote from PETA at the end.
>>
>>
>> http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1112539355/indoor-navigation-system-gives-guide-dogs-a-rest/
>>
>>
>> Indoor Navigation System Gives Guide Dogs A Rest
>> May 21, 2012
>>
>> Helen Keller, perhaps the most famous activist for the visually
>> impaired once said, “It is for us to pray not for tasks equal to our
>> powers, but for powers
>> equal to our tasks, to go forward with a great desire forever beating
>> at the door of our hearts as we travel toward our distant goal.”
>>
>> Empowerment of the visually impaired took another step forward this
>> month with the presentation of Navatar, an indoor navigation system.
>> Navatar, which
>> was developed by a University of Nevada, Reno computer science
>> engineering team, is an improvement on existing systems because it
>> relies primarily on existing
>> smartphone technology and not on less practical and bulky sensors.
>>
>> “Existing indoor navigation systems typically require the use of
>> expensive and heavy sensors, or equipping rooms and hallways with
>> radio-frequency tags
>> that can be detected by a handheld reader and which are used to
>> determine the user’s location,” said Kostas Bekris, of the UNR College
>> of Engineering’s
>> Robotics Research Lab. “This has often made the implementation of such
>> systems prohibitively expensive, with few systems having been
>> deployed.”
>>
>> In conjunction with two-dimensional, digital architectural maps that
>> are widely available, the smartphone-based Navatar uses the device’s
>> accelerometer
>> and compass to navigate its user. The system is able to guide people
>> with visual impairments down hallways and into rooms through audible
>> instructions
>> similar to those given by GPS devices made for autos.
>>
>> “Nevertheless, the smartphone’s sensors, which are used to calculate
>> how many steps the user has executed and her orientation, tend to pick
>> up false signals,”
>> said Eelke Folmer, who worked on the project.”To synchronize the
>> location, our system combines probabilistic algorithms and the natural
>> capabilities of
>> people with visual impairments to detect landmarks in their
>> environment through touch, such as corridor intersections, doors,
>> stairs and elevators.”
>>
>> Folmer explained that Navatar ‘listens’ for voice prompts or a button
>> push on a Bluetooth-enabled device from the user to confirm the
>> presence of these
>> landmarks. This means the system can work to assist the user in
>> conjunction with their typical routine for navigation, including the
>> use of a cane.
>>
>> On his website, Folmer noted that the system has a “high possibility
>> of large-scale deployment” because it only requires a simple digital
>> representation
>> of an indoor environment can be sketched up with simple design drawing
>> programs that could be downloaded from a building’s Wi-Fi network. The
>> UNR team
>> also performed a study involving 12 blindfolded and six blind users to
>> demonstrate the feasibility of their system.
>>
>> While the system was able to track users within 1.85 meters of their
>> actual location, the researchers were able to identify several areas
>> for improvement.
>> Based on feedback from test subjects, the team’s report said improving
>> Navatar’s accuracy, making it able to repeat directions, and having it
>> capable of
>> working from within in a pocket are all improvement they are
>> considering.
>>
>> For their work on Navatar, Bekris and Folmer recently won a PETA
>> Proggy Award for Leadership in Ethical Science. PETA recognized the
>> system as an animal-friendly
>> achievement because of its potential to decrease the reliance on guide
>> dogs for the visually impaired.
>>
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>>
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>
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