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

Tue Jun 16 20:20:35 UTC 2015

I may not have read the article carefully enough, but I got the
impression that instead of using eyesight, the robot uses stored
information about a building layout in order to provide guidance. If
that is the case, it could be cool for both blind and sighted users. I
also think the blind still face a huge disadvantage in accessing
information that's stored in maps, directories and signs that sighted
people use for navigation. A robot or device that could provide
details about a building's layout akin to those found in a wall map
would be useful in my opinion. Such information is just information,
and the blind person still has to process it and make independent
choices about how to get from one place to the next.
Arielle

On 6/16/15, Mary ellen via nfbwatlk <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Despite what I said in an earlier post, the ultimate secret to mobility for
> blind people is just getting out there and moving!  I don't care nearly as
> much about the technique as about the result.
> It's more time efficient to phone taxis and more fiscally prudent to take
> the city bus.  If I had the funds, I'd opt for the taxi.  Since my bank
> account doesn't rival that of Bill Gates, I'm glad I feel confident taking
> transit.  I'm glad I feel confident taking a walk for my health, but I
> wouldn't like it very much if there were neither taxis nor transit
> available.  My world would be restricted to those things within walking
> distance.  Then again, if I lived in a place with neither taxis nor
> transit,
> I'd be much healthier, and I'd also find ways to borrow or pay for the use
> of somebody else's wheels.
>
> If we want our blindness to be just one among countless of our
> characteristics, we need to become problem solvers.  The universal
> inclusive
> design people are right to the extent that they want to eliminate
> unnecessary disinsentives and roadblocks.  They're wrong to the extent that
> they take our problem solving capacity out of the picture.  We need to make
> sure that we don't take ourselves out of the running by failing to develop
> our problem solving capacity.
>
> As for employment, I tend to agree with you, Mike, that it is a much more
> important issue than how we move.  If we think about the emerging economy
> creatively, our experience as problem solvers will put blind people in a
> competitive advantage, perhaps for the first time in history.  Finding an
> employer to hire us is likely to become increasingly problematic because
> experts seem to agree that we're in the midst of an economic upheaval as
> far
> reaching as the industrial revolution.  Some say that the underlying
> unemployment rate for all workers may reach as high as fifty per cent.  I
> find it hard to imagine what a world like that will be like!  It seems
> likely to me that we're moving toward a system where we'll all be ME
> Incorporated, shopping our skills and talents around to people who pay for
> our work on an ad hoc basis.  That will challenge us, but I believe we can
> create tremendous opportunities for ourselves if we start rethinking the
> way
> we approach employment.
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nfbwatlk [mailto:nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Mike
> Freeman via nfbwatlk
> Sent: Tuesday, June 16, 2015 7:38 AM
> To: 'NFB of Washington Talk Mailing List'
> Cc: Mike Freeman
> Subject: Re: [nfbwatlk] Transit Guide-Bots for Blind Passengers?, Route
> Fifty presented by Government Executive, May 17 2015
>
> What do you expect? Many blind iPhone users seem to be waxing ecstatic
> about
> the Be My Eyes app! The common denominator here is that neither the blind
> nor the sighted often seem to believe that the blind can come up with their
> own solutions to problems engendered by the lack of sight.
>
> And can you imagine what these robots would do under current operating
> systems? They'd go nuts!
>
> Wish people would worry less about the blind navigating their environment
> and more about putting the blind to work!
>
> Mike Freeman
>
>
> -----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."
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