[nfb-talk] Guide Bots

[Todor Fassl]

The problem is that there's no money in it. Guide dog schools get their 
money via donations. But they spend tens of thousands per dog. You could 
probably save a lot of money with a bot but how are you going to get 
anyone to pay for it? Maybe if you already had a working unit you could 
get some backing.

Also, you can forget about the physical design problems. Those are 
nothing. Writing software to recognize an obstacle (much less a curb) is 
your real problem.  That's a project bigger than something like nvda or 
orca.  You'd have to recruit some comp sci Ph.D students to write some 
grant  proposals and make it their Ph.D wproject.

I agree with you about forgetting about steps. Although, that's not as 
small a thing to give up as you might think.  But it is way too hard of 
an engineering project. At the very least, that problem can be left for 
later models.  Get it working for sidewalks and curbs first.

 >>>>>>>>

 >I've been thinking about a new travel device lately and would be 
interested in any feedback members might have. I've been wondering 
lately if there is enough reasonably priced portable processing power 
available to make a guide bot. From looking on the web there are a few 
projects, mostly not very efficient ones. There is a company called nst 
that is working on it but expects to bring a product to market in the 
2020's. The reason most projects are so difficult is that they are 
spending inordinate amounts of time and money teaching the guide bots to 
climb stairs and fully "lead" the blind person. We know this is 
unnecessary. If you remove the necessity to "lead" the blind person the 
project becomes much simpler. The device doesn't need to climb stairs. 
The blind person can simply lift it up or down. This assumes of course 
that it is a lightweight device. For example, suppose you have a two 
wheeled device with two forward facing cameras and a handle on it that 
you direct. You push the device down the sidewalk let's say. When it 
detects an object that you should go around, to the left, the left wheel 
has a brake on it. When the left brake engages and slows the left wheel, 
the device naturally turns that direction. The same thing happens if you 
want to go right. If there's a curb coming, both wheels slowly engage 
their brakes. At any time, if you as the person in charge wish to 
override the braking, you simply give a quick shove to the device. The 
blind person provides the forward motion, eliminating any need for 
motive power. The only thing the device needs power for is processing 
and braking. Whether verbally, or with a small keypad, you tell the 
device what you want it to do. If the device is going to talk to you at 
all it needs to be through an open-ear earbud. But this may be 
unnecessary. I believe it would require two cameras for measuring 
distance and for scanning both in front and to the sides. In order for 
the device to be practical it would have to solve problems that the cane 
and most dogs don't solve. That is, it would have to detect objects at 
head height. And, it would have to be fast. The thing that limits a cane 
user in new territory is the necessity of slowing down while detecting 
an object and moving around it. I place a list of things below that are 
within reach of today's technology but I'm not sure if they are within 
the practical financial boundaries of a marketable device. I thought 
those of you who think about matters like this might weigh in on this 
and let me know. Here is my list of things the device could do. 1. 
avoiding objects-people and other interferences to the path of travel 2. 
Detecting objects as high as one's head. 3. identifying curbs and ramps 
4. recognizing intersecting sidewalks or other paths of travel 5. 
finding doors 6. locating up or down stairs 7. locating elevators 8. 
locating elevator buttons 9. finding restrooms 10. finding empty urinals 
11. finding empty seats on busses or in conference rooms 12. returning 
to an already found seat 13. finding a bus stop 14. finding a specific 
address 15. following an indicated person I'd be interested in feedback 
on this idea. If you wish to write me off-line, do so at 
mbullis at imagemd.org Thanks for your thinking. Mike 
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