A four-legged, robotic guide dog system that can safely lead blind people around obstacles and through narrow passages has been developed by US researchers.
To save on the time and effort required to train a guide dog, scientists have come up with a novel idea and created a robotic alternative. The robot was designed and programmed by lead researcher and roboticist Zhongyu Li and his colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley.
What is the robot called?
They named the robot’s design a Mini Cheetah. It is powered by a laser-ranging system to map out its surroundings and a camera to track the human it is guiding. Equipped with a leash, it provides better lead around tight turns similar to any canine.
It weighs 25 kg (55 lb), or 30 kg (66 lb) when you include the robotic arm.
It is all-electric and can go for about 90 minutes on a charge, depending on what it is doing. It has a variety of sensors, including depth cameras, a solid state gyro (IMU) and proprioception sensors in the limbs.
These sensors help with navigation and mobile manipulation.
How does the Mini Cheetah work?
It works on first feeding the destination on its system to let the machine map out a simple route. Then, it adapts its course as per the obstacles and the user’s movements.
Just like a real assistance canine, the Mini Cheetah guides its user by means of a leash — which it can pull taut but also allow to go slack in order to better lead around tight turns.
Has the Mini Cheetah been tested with blind or visually impaired people?
Li and his colleagues have successfully tested the mechanism of the bots with three blindfolded people around the obstacle path and enclosed narrow section less than a meter wide. The tight turn aimed at testing the machine’s ability to divert without keeping the belt tight at all times as the track was too narrow to fit the turning circle of both the robot dog and the handler together.
How feasible is the Mini Cheetah?
According to Li, these types of robots are scalable and have immense scope in near future. He says that these will definitely be feasible and lucrative alternatives to help and serve people when hardware will become affordable.
The team envisaged that in the future it could also be updated to sync with computer or smartphone calendars so that it could perform various other functions like automatically taking people to their appointments by means of GPS navigation.
The robot has the potential to cut down on the time and expense of training guide dogs — although, they would lack the mental and social benefits of a real animal.
