[access-uk] Re: Wal-mart has new robot to help visually impaired customers.
- From: Mel Spooner <mel.spooner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 18 May 2005 10:18:10 +0100
Hi George,
I read an article about this the other day and what really amused me was
that its speed could not be controlled. apparently one of its faults was
that it ran away with one of its visually impaired testers! I think that
personally I'll stick to Sainsbury's Online!
Mel
Mel Spooner
edIT Help Desk
Nottinghamshire County Council
Tel 0115 854 6116
Email mel.spooner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
-----Original Message-----
From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of George Bell
Sent: 18 May 2005 10:00
To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [access-uk] Wal-mart has new robot to help visually impaired
customers.
I thought some supermarket shoppers might be amused by the following?
George.
Wal-Mart Tests Robots for Blind Shoppers
By Evan Schuman
LOGAN, Utah, May 16 -- Wal-Mart started quietly testing a
university-created robot designed to help visually impaired consumers
navigate store aisles and
find their desired products.
The robot-named RG, for Robotic Guide-is the creation of Vladimir
Kulyukin, an assistant professor of computer science at Utah State
University and the
director of the university's Computer Science Assistive Technology
Laboratory.
The initial version of RG-which weighs about 22 pounds and is roughly the
height of an upright vacuum cleaner-is limited to three basic functions.
First, it guides the consumer through the aisles and around people,
displays and merchandise using RFID readers and 16 ultrasonic sonars.
Its second function is to communicate with the consumer. It takes
instructions via a small Braille directory of products that is attached to
the robot's
handle, and it replies to the shopper's questions with spoken answers.
The third function is to use its RFID reader to locate the desired
products. The store's RFID tags help the robot navigate the lanes as well
as locate products.
"There are RFID sensors placed on the shelves in the store. The robot has
the RFID antennae and detects the presence of those tags," Kulyukin said.
"That's
how it knows it's reached the Colgate section of the toothpaste shelf and
it then announces, 'You have reached the Colgate toothpaste section, on
your
right.'"
The robot has its limitations, though. Until item-level tagging becomes
the norm, the system can indicate only the part of the shelf where the
product is
supposed to be. If it's been moved-either by an employee moving stock who
forgot to move or update the RFID tag or by another consumer who put a
tube of
Aim toothpaste amidst the Colgate-the visually impaired consumer might
grab the wrong product.
The robot's development is still at a very early stage and has thus far
mostly been paid for with a $500,000 grant from the National Science
Foundation,
Kulyukin said. He is negotiating with a large national retail chain to buy
the units and invest in its further development.
Adapted with permission from eWeek.com. Copyright (c) 2005 Ziff Davis
Media Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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