00:00 The RoboGuide project develops an assistive robotic dog to help blind persons navigate
00:06 indoor spaces.
00:07 When we are developing something like this, it's a mixture of several things.
00:13 The first challenge is how to learn the environment.
00:17 Outdoor, GPS performs excellently and that's why we use them for our cars and our maps
00:23 on our phones.
00:24 These spaces are subject to deteriorating GPS signals.
00:30 We use computer vision, we use 3D technology where it scans the whole environment and it
00:36 understands where each object, each pillar, each obstacle is and it memorizes or remembers
00:43 that.
00:44 The second thing is object or obstacle avoidance.
00:48 We develop that using multiple sensors.
00:51 We developed some SLAM algorithms, simultaneous localization and mapping algorithms to help
00:57 the robot navigate its way in an indoor location.
01:02 The third technology that we integrated in there, interactivity.
01:06 We've integrated some large language models to this solution so it can have intelligent
01:12 conversations.
01:14 We wanted to test this technology with the end user.
01:17 The end users in this case were blind and partially sighted people.
01:22 We're privileged to be invited along here, along with our partners RNIB, to test out
01:28 some of the various pieces of kit that the university are developing.
01:32 So it's all with a view to improving life for people with sight loss.
01:37 They did the practical evaluation of the development technology which is very important to judge
01:44 where we are and what we have developed.
01:46 A hundred percent I would use this in the future personally as well as there's a lot
01:51 of people I know that would definitely either want to try this or would definitely use it.
01:57 We want to put this technology onto a wheeled robot.
02:02 We also want to put this, a normal humanoid robot and also such kind of dog robot so that
02:09 the end user, they have different choices to make.
02:14 And what we want to maximise without bamboozling people is the amount of choices that they
02:19 have so they can find a level of technical support, product support that they personally
02:24 are comfortable with that helps to take them on in their journey.
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