Robot-assisted wayfinding for the visually impaired in structured indoor environments

We present a robot-assisted wayfinding system for the visually impaired in structured indoor environments. The system consists of a mobile robotic guide and small passive RFID sensors embedded in the environment. The system is intended for use in indoor environments, such as office buildings, supermarkets and airports. We describe how the system was deployed in two indoor environments and evaluated by visually impaired participants in a series of pilot experiments. We analyze the system’s successes and failures and outline our plans for future research and development.

[1]  Reid G. Simmons,et al.  The curvature-velocity method for local obstacle avoidance , 1996, Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[2]  David A. Ross,et al.  Implementing Assistive Technology on Wearable Computers , 2001, IEEE Intell. Syst..

[3]  Ian Horswill,et al.  Polly: A Vision-Based Artificial Agent , 1993, AAAI.

[4]  Joelle Pineau,et al.  Experiences with a mobile robotic guide for the elderly , 2002, AAAI/IAAI.

[5]  Wolfram Burgard,et al.  MINERVA: a second-generation museum tour-guide robot , 1999, Proceedings 1999 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.99CH36288C).

[6]  A D Heyes,et al.  An application of bio-feedback in the rehabilitation of the blind. , 1980, Applied ergonomics.

[7]  Sanjiv Singh,et al.  Preliminary results in range-only localization and mapping , 2002, Proceedings 2002 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.02CH37292).

[8]  David A. Ross,et al.  Development of a Wearable Computer Orientation System , 2002, Personal and Ubiquitous Computing.

[9]  John Nicholson,et al.  RFID in robot-assisted indoor navigation for the visually impaired , 2004, 2004 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) (IEEE Cat. No.04CH37566).

[10]  Yoram Koren,et al.  Real-time obstacle avoidance for fact mobile robots , 1989, IEEE Trans. Syst. Man Cybern..

[11]  Vladimir A. Kulyukin.  Human-Robot Interaction Through Gesture-Free Spoken Dialogue , 2004, Auton. Robots.

[12]  Clarence J. Pfaffenberger,et al.  Guide Dogs for the Blind, Their Selection, Development, and Training , 1976 .

[13]  Hideo Mori,et al.  A Robotic Travel Aid for the Blind , 1998 .

[14]  Yoram Koren,et al.  Potential field methods and their inherent limitations for mobile robot navigation , 1991, Proceedings. 1991 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[15]  John Nicholson,et al.  RoboCart: toward robot-assisted navigation of grocery stores by the visually impaired , 2005, 2005 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems.

[16]  Andy Hopper,et al.  Implementing a Sentient Computing System , 2001, Computer.

[17]  Oussama Khatib,et al.  Real-Time Obstacle Avoidance for Manipulators and Mobile Robots , 1985, Autonomous Robot Vehicles.

[18]  Philip E. Agre,et al.  The dynamic structure of everyday life , 1988 .

[19]  D. Bolgiano,et al.  A laser cane for the blind , 1967 .

[20]  Terrence Fong,et al.  Vehicle Teleoperation Interfaces , 2001, Auton. Robots.

[21]  Wolfram Burgard,et al.  Mapping and localization with RFID technology , 2004, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2004. Proceedings. ICRA '04. 2004.

[22]  Shraga Shoval,et al.  Mobile robot obstacle avoidance in a computerized travel aid for the blind , 1994, Proceedings of the 1994 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[23]  Benjamin Kuipers,et al.  The Spatial Semantic Hierarchy , 2000, Artif. Intell..

[24]  Wolfram Burgard,et al.  Experiences with an Interactive Museum Tour-Guide Robot , 1999, Artif. Intell..

[25]  Hideo Mori,et al.  Robotic travel aid for the blind: HARUNOBU-6 , 1998 .