Smartphone-Friendly Innovation Holds Promise of Freeing Dogs From Involuntary Service
For Immediate Release:
May 14, 2012
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
St. Paul, Minn. -- The University of Nevada–Reno (UNR) science team working on smartphone technology that will help blind people navigate on their own, even gauging their pace and warning them far in advance of obstacles such as a stairway, will present its invention at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation in St. Paul on May 15 (the second day of the conference). The team, headed by researchers Dr. Eelke Folmer of the Player-Game-Interaction Lab and Dr. Kostas Bekris of the Robotics Research Lab, has won a PETA Proggy Award for Leadership in Ethical Science. PETA's Proggy Awards ("Proggy" is for "progress") recognize animal-friendly achievements.
"This new technology promises not only give blind people the independence they want but also could mean that dogs will no longer be bred for this type of service," says PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk. "We commend the UNR team for developing 'eyes' for the blind that are both user-friendly and animal-friendly."
The low-cost system would enable blind people to navigate around buildings using nothing more than a smartphone. Its software is based on the same technology that enables robots to navigate but uses the person's stride length to track his or her movements. The system uses two-dimensional digital maps and the smartphone's built-in components, with the phone able to communicate what it "sees" using synthetic speech. Upon initial use in a particular environment, the user touches certain landmarks. The smartphone remembers the information and is able to give the user directions on subsequent visits.
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