Related papers: Lessons Learned from Developing a Human-Centered G…
Robots are increasingly integrated across industries, particularly in healthcare. However, many valuable applications for quadrupedal robots remain overlooked. This research explores the effectiveness of three reinforcement learning…
This paper introduces DogSurf - a newapproach of using quadruped robots to help visually impaired people navigate in real world. The presented method allows the quadruped robot to detect slippery surfaces, and to use audio and haptic…
For people affected by blindness and low vision (BLV), safe and independent navigation remains a major challenge, impacting over 2.2 billion individuals worldwide. Although multimodal large language models (MLLMs) offer new opportunities…
This is a summary paper of a use case of a Robotdog dedicated to guide visually impaired people in complex environment like a smart intersection. In such scenarios, the Robotdog has to autonomously decide whether it is safe to cross the…
Legged locomotion holds the premise of universal mobility, a critical capability for many real-world robotic applications. Both model-based and learning-based approaches have advanced the field of legged locomotion in the past three…
Learning-based methods have achieved strong performance for quadrupedal locomotion. However, several challenges prevent quadrupeds from learning helpful indoor skills that require interaction with environments and humans: lack of…
Personal mobile robotic assistants are expected to find wide applications in industry and healthcare. For example, people with limited mobility can benefit from robots helping with daily tasks, or construction workers can have robots…
This paper presents a VR-based guide dog training system designed to assist novice trainers in understanding guide dog behavior and issuing appropriate training commands. Guide dogs play a vital role in supporting independent mobility for…
Vision-and-Language Navigation (VLN) is a multi-modal, cooperative task requiring agents to interpret human instructions, navigate 3D environments, and communicate effectively under ambiguity. This paper presents a comprehensive review of…
Robot guide dogs offer navigation assistance that greatly expands the independent mobility of the visually impaired, but their effective use requires subtle human-robot coordination that is difficult for users to learn from generic verbal…
Social robots, also known as service or assistant robots, have been developed to improve the quality of human life in recent years. The design of socially capable and intelligent robots can vary, depending on the target user groups. In this…
Blind people have limited opportunities to explore an environment based on their interests. While existing navigation systems could provide them with surrounding information while navigating, they have limited scalability as they require…
This paper presents a framework to navigate visually impaired people through unfamiliar environments by means of a mobile manipulator. The Human-Robot system consists of three key components: a mobile base, a robotic arm, and the human…
People who are blind or have low vision (BLV) encounter numerous challenges in their daily lives and work. To support them, various haptic assistive tools have been developed. Despite these advancements, the effective utilization of these…
Intelligent systems are increasingly part of our everyday lives and have been integrated seamlessly to the point where it is difficult to imagine a world without them. Physical manifestations of those systems on the other hand, in the form…
Large Vision-Language Models (LVLMs) demonstrate a promising direction for assisting individuals with blindness or low-vision (BLV). Yet, measuring their true utility in real-world scenarios is challenging because evaluating whether their…
As social virtual reality (VR) grows more popular, addressing accessibility for blind and low vision (BLV) users is increasingly critical. Researchers have proposed an AI "sighted guide" to help users navigate VR and answer their questions,…
This paper presents a hierarchical control strategy based on hybrid systems theory, nonlinear control, and safety-critical systems to enable cooperative locomotion of robotic guide dogs and visually impaired people. We address…
People with visual impairments (PwVI) often have difficulties navigating through unfamiliar indoor environments. However, current wayfinding tools are fairly limited. In this short paper, we present our in-progress work on a wayfinding…
The deployment of humanoid robots in unstructured, human-centric environments requires navigation capabilities that extend beyond simple locomotion to include robust perception, provable safety, and socially aware behavior. Current…