Robotic guide dogs hold significant potential to enhance the autonomy and mobility of blind or visually impaired (BVI) individuals by offering universal assistance over unstructured terrains at affordable costs. However, the design of robotic guide dogs remains underexplored, particularly in systematic aspects such as gait controllers, navigation behaviors, interaction methods, and verbal explanations. Our study addresses this gap by conducting user studies with 18 BVI participants, comprising 15 cane users and three guide dog users. Participants interacted with a quadrupedal robot and provided both quantitative and qualitative feedback. Our study revealed several design implications, such as a preference for a learning-based controller and a rigid handle, gradual turns with asymmetric speeds, semantic communication methods, and explainability. The study also highlighted the importance of customization to support users with diverse backgrounds and preferences, along with practical concerns such as battery life, maintenance, and weather issues. These findings offer valuable insights and design implications for future research and development of robotic guide dogs.
Trajectory Generation with Endpoint Regulation and Momentum-Aware Dynamics for Visually Impaired Scenarios
1 School of Information；Software Engineering, University of Electronic Science；Technology of China, Chengdu 610054, Sichuan, P.R. China. 2 School of Medicine, University of Electronic Science；Technology of China, Chengdu, Sichuan, China. 3 Sichuan Provincial Key Laboratory for Human Disease Gene Study, Sichuan Academy of Medical Sciences \& \ Provincial People's Hospital, University of Electronic Science
BUDD-e: an autonomous robotic guide for visually impaired users
Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria, Politecnico di Milano（电子、信息与生物工程系，米兰理工学院）；Department of Design, Politecnico di Milano（设计系，米兰理工学院）；Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering, Politecnico di Milano（管理、经济与工业工程系，米兰理工学院）
Momentum-constrained Hybrid Heuristic Trajectory Optimization Framework with Residual-enhanced DRL for Visually Impaired Scenarios
School of Information；Software Engineering, University of Electronic Science；Sichuan Provincial Key Laboratory for Human Disease Gene Study, Sichuan Academy of Medical Sciences \& Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, University of Electronic Science；Research Unit for Blindness Prevention, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Sichuan Academy of Medical Sciences；Sichuan Provincial People’s Hospital, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
Panoptic Lintention Network: Towards Efficient Navigational Perception for the Visually Impaired
Institute for Anthropomatics and Robotics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology（卡尔斯鲁厄理工学院人机与机器人研究所）；Sino-German School, Tongji University（同济大学中德学院）；Hangzhou SurImage Technology Company Ltd.（杭州 SurImage 科技有限公司）；Hangzhou KrVision Technology Company Ltd.（杭州 KrVision 科技有限公司）
Perception Framework through Real-Time Semantic Segmentation and Scene Recognition on a Wearable System for the Visually Impaired
Institute for Anthropomatics and Robotics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology（卡尔斯鲁厄理工学院人形机器人与智能系统研究所）；Hangzhou SurImage Technology Company Ltd.（杭州 SurImage 科技有限公司）；Hangzhou KrVision Technology Company Ltd.（杭州 KrVision 科技有限公司）
"I am the follower, also the boss": Exploring Different Levels of Autonomy and Machine Forms of Guiding Robots for the Visually Impaired
Institute for AI Industry Research, Tsinghua University（清华大学人工智能产业研究院）；The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou)（香港科技大学（广州））；The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology（香港科技大学）
