[access-uk] Dymos? was Wal-mart has new robot to help visually impaired customers.
- From: "Amro Bilal" <amro_bilal@xxxxxxx>
- To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 19 May 2005 10:04:32 +0100
Message"last time I check at Asda about the dymos..."
Excuse my ignorance, guys, but what is dymos? Any place to read more about it?
Cheers,
Amro
----- Original Message -----
From: Jillian Grant
To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2005 5:02 AM
Subject: [access-uk] Re: Wal-mart has new robot to help visually impaired
customers.
Well, last time I check at Asda about the dymos which was a couple years ago,
they didn't even have the service, and weren't sure if or when they'd get it.
I'll be checking next time I go back.
----- Original Message -----
From: Ian Macrae
To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2005 10:20 AM
Subject: [access-uk] Re: Wal-mart has new robot to help visually impaired
customers.
On the principle that ASDA's Braille Dimo guns are often empty, presumably
they'll forget to charge the robots up! And will they, like trolleys, have
minds of their own?
-----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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