Paw-sitive reception for robot guide dog could lead to new assistive technologies

Blind and partially sighted people could soon receive help to find their way around indoor spaces from chatty robot guide dogs currently in development at a Scottish university. Experts from the University of Glasgow have partnered with industry and two leading charities to develop the RoboGuide, an AI-powered four-legged robot which aims to help visually impaired people move more independently through museums, shopping centres, hospitals and other public places in the future. The RoboGuide prototype integrates a range of cutting-edge technologies into an off-the-shelf robot body to help overcome the challenges preventing robots from being more widely used to assist blind and partially sighted people. The project aims to bring a more complete version of the technology to market in the years to come to help support the 2.2 billion people around the world, and two million people in the UK, who live with sight loss. The University of Glasgow, changing the world since 1451.