Interesting, I wonder what Tom's views would be on this. I am always in favor of new technology but not sure of this. Hmmm! maybe it could be equipped with a light stun gun for those people who give me problems in hardware stores. Or the salesman who did not want to sell me my sliding miter saw.
> guide robots > from > Missouri December Chronicle > THE EDITORIAL EYE > (Guest editorial by Dr. Ronald E. Milliman) > Before you reject this idea because it is so different, open up your minds > and really think about this concept. It is a solution to many problems we > face daily. > The day is not too far off when we will be able to purchase a guide robot, > perhaps > to be called a "Guidebot." It will be very friendly andinteractive, > programmed to > be especially helpful to blind people. It will have some very valuable > attributes > that a dog or cane does not possess, e.g. the Guidebot will be able to > recognize > people and call them by name and help you such as: "Here comes Linda > Myers," > allowing > you, then, to speak up and say: "Good morning Linda; how are you this > beautiful > morning?" Of course, our Guidebot would be able to spot vehicles, and > using > its > radar type technology, be able to accurately determine how fast the > vehicle > is moving > and in which direction, and thus, be able to calculate whether you have > sufficient > time to cross the street without risking being hit. The > Guidebot could also identify traffic lights and what color they are, > identify paper > money, etc., etc. > The technology is, essentially, available now, but it is just not all > assembled in > a package that makes it function the way I described here. Such Guidebots > could come > in a variety of configurations, e.g. like a dog, like a person, etc. So, > if > you > wanted a Guidebot that would look like a Golden Retriever, you could just > order that > particular physical configuration. > Frankly, I, personally, would strongly favor our working toward this > technological > solution rather than some of the other things we are fighting for because > it > solves > the problems from an entirely different direction. It is one solution to > many, many > different problems that we , as blind people, face everyday for which we > are > currently > seeking multiple solutions, many of which are opposed by various segments > of > our > society, business, government, and yes, even some other blind populated > organizations. > Dr. Ronald E. Milliman, Professor of Marketing, Western Kentucky > University > > **Chair, ACB Public Relations Committee > **Chair, ACB Monthly Monetary Support Program (MMS) Committee > (Response from Dan Rossi): > "If you want a guide bot that looks like a dog and actually walks on four > legs, it > is going to require a lot of power. Not to mention a lot more development > on the > robotics side. Sure, four leg walkers are around, but four leg walkers > that > are > stable enough, and agile enough to guide a human will take a lot more > work." > "also, guiding a person takes a lot more intelligence than basic obstacle > avoidance. > It would require more than just computer vision, because to a computer, a > shadow > looks a whole lot like a hole. So LASER range finding or ultrasonics > would > need > to be part of the package." > "all of this stuff does exist. It is nothing terribly new. Look at the > DARPA Grand > Challenge. However, putting it all into something portable, and powering > it > is something > else." > "None of what Ron says is impossible. However, I think it would take > quite > a lot > of money to bring it all together." > I'm wondering how much it would weigh, and would that make for a problem > when it > comes to flying?
