[NAGDU] Indoor navigation and robot guide

[carcione at access.net]

The article said the robot guide would hook up with indoor maps to help the
user find their way around inside buildings.  So, in Vanessa's example of
finding her father's room in the assisted living place, she would probably
do something like put in "room 325" and the robot would somehow indicate
where she should turn, etc.  That would be handy, but, if there is an indoor
map, why couldn't it hook to my phone just as well as to a robot, and I
could use the mobility technique of my choice?  I'd really like that,
especially when I go to a mall, which I find very difficult to navigate
without sighted help.  I used to have a sighted friend who enjoyed shopping,
and we would go to the mall together, but she has moved away, and my other
friends are not at all interested.  So I only go to a mall if I really,
really need something there. 

Wouldn't it be great if I could go to the mall and have a map in my phone,
and I could walk along having it tell me what I was passing, or put in, say,
Macy's, and it would give me directions, including choices for if I wanted
the elevator, escalator, or stairs?  Or the same for big office buildings,
where you need, say, to find your doctor's office and there's no one around
in the halls to ask. 

But, in the things I've read on this topic so far, the building management
has to provide the map, or someone has to walk around the place and map it
out, and, often, some kind of markers have to be put in for the navigation
to read.  And that just doesn't happen all that often.  No surprise-just
look at all the buildings that still don't have basic accessibility, like
braille on elevators or wheelchair-accessible entrances.  

But that kind of tech seems like it could happen much faster than a robot
that is really reliable, and, if the battery fails or the signal isn't good,
it's not the disaster it would be for the guide robot.

Tracy