Related papers: Do Looks Matter? Exploring Functional and Aestheti…
As social VR applications grow in popularity, blind and low vision users encounter continued accessibility barriers. Yet social VR, which enables multiple people to engage in the same virtual space, presents a unique opportunity to allow…
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…
Cerebral Visual Impairment (CVI) is the set to be the leading cause of vision impairment, yet remains underrepresented in assistive technology research. Unlike ocular conditions, CVI affects higher-order visual processing-impacting object…
Aesthetics - often treated as secondary to function-guides how people interpret robots' roles. A great deal of robot designs - both real and fictitious - use sleek industrial aesthetics. These feature hard glossy plastics, hiding as much of…
Purpose of Review: As new technological advancements are made, humanoid robots that utilise them are being designed and manufactured. For optimal design choices, a broad overview with insight on the advantages and disadvantages of available…
Feedback design is an important aspect of person-following robots for older adults. This paper presents a user-centred design approach to ensure the design is focused on the needs and preferences of the users. A sequence of user studies…
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,…
Seeing-eye robots are very useful tools for guiding visually impaired people, potentially producing a huge societal impact given the low availability and high cost of real guide dogs. Although a few seeing-eye robot systems have already…
Animal welfare education could greatly benefit from customized robots to help children learn about animals and their behavior, and thereby promote positive, safe child-animal interactions. To this end, we ran Participatory Design workshops…
Guide dogs play a critical role in the lives of many, however training them is a time- and labor-intensive process. We are developing a method to allow an autonomous robot to physically guide humans using direct human-robot communication.…
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…
Navigation presents a significant challenge for persons with visual impairments (PVI). While traditional aids such as white canes and guide dogs are invaluable, they fall short in delivering detailed spatial information and precise guidance…
People with visual impairments perceive their environment non-visually and often use AI-powered assistive tools to obtain textual descriptions of visual information. Recent large vision-language model-based AI-powered tools like Be My AI…
Avatar is a critical medium for identity representation in social virtual reality (VR). However, options for disability expression are highly limited on current avatar interfaces. Improperly designed disability features may even perpetuate…
Mobile service robots have become increasingly ubiquitous. However, these robots can pose potential accessibility issues and safety concerns to people with visual impairments (PVI). We sought to explore the challenges faced by PVI around…
Humanoid robots, as general-purpose physical agents, must integrate both intelligent control and adaptive morphology to operate effectively in diverse real-world environments. While recent research has focused primarily on optimizing…
The design and development of robots involve the essential step of selecting and testing robotic interfaces. This interface selection requires careful consideration as the robot's physical embodiment influences and adds to the traditional…
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…
Actively participating in body movement such as dance, sports, and fitness activities is challenging for people who are blind or have low vision (BLV). Teachers primarily rely on verbal instructions and physical demonstrations with limited…
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…