[nfbwatlk] Transit Guide-Bots for Blind Passengers?, Route Fifty presented by Government Executive, May 17 2015

[Mary ellen]

The major problem with this arrangement is that it isn't under the control
of the blind person.  One has to contact transit and request the guide bot.

I believe blind people should learn to feel confident and competent in
travel situations with no access to high tech.  As a matter of fact, I
believe blind people need to find ways to keep control of their movement
when a cane gets broken. Not a pleasant situation, but it does happen, and
who wants to be stranded for lack of five feet of carbon fiber? 

I also know sighted people who use GPS and a compass and don't see any
reason why blind people shouldn't have access to those tools, too.  The
danger for blind and sighted people in this high tech society, of course, is
that our sense of direction will atrophy because of the ready availability
of GPS just as our ability to do arithmetic in our heads has diminished
since we all started using calculators.  I won't even begin on the joys and
perils of spell checking!

Working with sight is a viable method; it only becomes dubious if a blind
person feels inept without the availability of sight. One reason for
acquiring a guide dog is to have access to vision that one controls.
Admittedly, the capacity of canine vision is bound by the capacity of canine
intellect and the ability of a dog to correctly understand the desires and
commands of the owner.  A dog that has just been trained to understand
"forward," "left," and "right" will be less useful than a dog that can also
understand commands like "inside," "outside," "elevator," and "up stairs."

If someone were to invent a truly useful robot that could give me advance
information concerning obstacles so that I could maneuver gracefully around
them, I'd happily buy one.  I chose to lengthen my cane to give me a half
step advance notice so that I could travel more smoothly and not have to
rely on hair trigger swift reaction time.  A tool is just that, a tool.  If
somebody invents a better tool, I'm interested.

I don't want to become one of those people who cannot function without a
fancy tool.  I know too many drivers who feel and act marooned if they don't
have access to a car.  I don't want to emulate that sort of dependence.



-----Original Message-----
From: nfbwatlk [mailto:nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Prows,
Bennett (HHS/OCR) via nfbwatlk
Sent: Tuesday, June 16, 2015 7:11 AM
To: NFB of Washington Talk Mailing List
Cc: Prows, Bennett (HHS/OCR); Nightingale, Noel
Subject: Re: [nfbwatlk] Transit Guide-Bots for Blind Passengers?, Route
Fifty presented by Government Executive, May 17 2015

Hmmm is right! So, we want sighted guides everywhere?

-----Original Message-----
From: nfbwatlk [mailto:nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
Nightingale, Noel via nfbwatlk
Sent: Monday, June 15, 2015 2:07 PM
To: nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org
Cc: Nightingale, Noel
Subject: [nfbwatlk] Transit Guide-Bots for Blind Passengers?, Route Fifty
presented by Government Executive, May 17 2015

Hmmm...

Link:
http://www.routefifty.com/2015/05/transit-guide-bots-blind-passengers/113020
/

Text:
Transit Guide-Bots for Blind Passengers?
By Bill Lucia
May 17, 2015

An assistive robotics project is exploring how advanced technology could
make it easier for people with visual impairments to navigate cities.

A blind person is traveling on the subway. The train they're riding on pulls
into a stop, the doors open and the person exits. Waiting there on the
platform, to help guide them through the station, is a robot.

"Making a robot do that, there are some challenges, but it's not as
challenging as it used to be," said Aaron Steinfeld after describing the
scenario involving the guide-bot during a recent interview. Steinfeld is an
associate research professor at Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics
Institute in Pittsburgh, where he specializes in human-robot interaction.

He and others at the university are working on a project that aims to
incorporate robots, smartphones, mobile applications and crowdsourced
information into a system that can help blind people navigate complicated
and unfamiliar urban environments, such as transit stations.

"If you have a disability, it can be rather difficult to just get up and go
somewhere because of the planning and the information that you need at your
disposal," Steinfeld said. "That's where information technology and
assistive robot systems could really shine."
_______________________________________________
nfbwatlk mailing list
nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbwatlk_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
nfbwatlk:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbwatlk_nfbnet.org/bennett.prows%40hhs.go
v

_______________________________________________
nfbwatlk mailing list
nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbwatlk_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
nfbwatlk:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbwatlk_nfbnet.org/gabias%40telus.net