Beyond Omakase: Designing Shared Control for Navigation Robots with Blind People
University of Maryland, College Park（马里兰大学学院公园分校）；IBM Research - Tokyo（IBM东京研究院）；Waseda University（早稻田大学）；Miraikan - The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation（未来馆（日本未来科学馆））
Autonomous navigation robots can increase the independence of blind people but often limit user control, following what is called in Japanese an "omakase" approach where decisions are left to the robot. This research investigates ways to enhance user control in social robot navigation, based on two studies conducted with blind participants. The first study, involving structured interviews (N=14), identified crowded spaces as key areas with significant social challenges. The second study (N=13) explored navigation tasks with an autonomous robot in these environments and identified design strategies across different modes of autonomy. Participants preferred an active role, termed the "boss" mode, where they managed crowd interactions, while the "monitor" mode helped them assess the environment, negotiate movements, and interact with the robot. These findings highlight the importance of shared control and user involvement for blind users, offering valuable insights for designing future social navigation robots.
University of Washington（华盛顿大学）；Microsoft Research（微软研究院）
Only a small percentage of blind and low-vision people use traditional mobility aids such as a cane or a guide dog. Various assistive technologies have been proposed to address the limitations of traditional mobility aids. These devices often give either the user or the device majority of the control. In this work, we explore how varying levels of control affect the users' sense of agency, trust in the device, confidence, and successful navigation. We present Glide, a novel mobility aid with two modes for control: Glide-directed and User-directed. We employ Glide in a study (N=9) in which blin…
Improving outdoor navigation for people with blindness using an AI-driven smartphone application and personalized audio guidance
John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University（哈佛大学约翰·A·保尔森工程与应用科学学院）；Kempner Institute for the Study of Artificial and Natural Intelligence, Harvard University（哈佛大学生物与人工智能研究所）
GuideTWSI: A Diverse Tactile Walking Surface Indicator Dataset from Synthetic and Real-World Images for Blind and Low-Vision Navigation
University of Massachusetts Amherst（马萨诸塞大学阿姆赫斯特分校）；Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology（大邱庆bu科学技术院）；The University of Texas at Austin（德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校）；University of Maine（缅因大学）
End-to-End Humanoid Robot Safe and Comfortable Locomotion Policy
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）；Human-Robot Interfaces and Interaction Lab., Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Italy（人机交互实验室，意大利理工学院）
Navigation and obstacle avoidance are some of the hardest tasks for the visually impaired. Recent research projects have proposed technological solutions to tackle this problem. So far most systems fail to provide multidimensional feedback while working under various lighting conditions. We present a novel obstacle avoidance system by combining a 3D camera with a haptic feedback sleeve. Our system uses the distance information of the camera and maps it onto a 2D vibration array on the forearm. In our functionality tests of the haptic feedback sleeve, users were able to correctly identify and l…
Department of Computer Sciences\ of Wisconsin--Madison Department of Computer Sciences, University of Wisconsin--Madison Madison Wisconsin USA；Waseda University Tokyo Japan；IBM Research - Tokyo Tokyo Japan；Robotics Institute Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh Pennsylvania USA；IBM Research\ Yorktown Heights New York USA；Department of Computer Sciences\ of Wisconsin--Madison；Waseda University；IBM Research - Tokyo；Robotics Institute Carnegie Mellon University；IBM Research\
Recent studies have focused on developing advanced assistive devices to help blind or visually impaired people. Navigation is challenging for this community; however, developing a simple yet reliable navigation system is still an unmet need. This study targets the navigation problem and proposes a wearable assistive system. We developed a smart glove and shoe set based on radio-frequency identification technology to assist visually impaired people with navigation and orientation in indoor environments. The system enables the user to find the directions through audio feedback. To evaluate the d…
In today's society, where independent living is becoming increasingly important, it can be extremely constricting for those who are blind. Blind and visually impaired (BVI) people face challenges because they need manual support to prompt information about their environment. In this work, we took our first step towards developing an affordable and high-performing eye wearable assistive device, DRISHTI, to provide visual navigation assistance for BVI people. This system comprises a camera module, ESP32 processor, Bluetooth module, smartphone and speakers. Using artificial intelligence, this sys…
Vision to audition substitution devices are designed to convey visual information through auditory input. The acceptance of such systems depends heavily on their ease of use, training time, reliability and on the amount of coverage of online auditory perception of current auditory scenes. Existing devices typically require extensive training time or complex and computationally demanding technology. The purpose of this work is to investigate the learning curve for a vision to audition substitution system that provides simple location features. Forty-two blindfolded users participated in experim…
