Robot Lends an Eye for Blind Shoppers

As personalized shopping assistants go, it may not be the most attractive one around. The Robotic Guide "dog," created by a Utah State University professor and his graduate students, looks like a cross between a carpet cleaner and the plumbing fixtures in your basement. But the thinking behind the Robotic Guide is to create a device that can guide the blind through grocery-store aisles, the mall or maybe even an airport, without assistance.

Lynn Krumm, 45, would welcome the help, she has Usher syndrome type 2, a genetic disorder that involves hearing loss and can cause vision deterioration severe enough to lead to blindness. When Krumm shops in her local grocery store in Logan, Utah, she has to wait about 20 minutes for a customer-service representative to help her find items.
 
“For someone losing their sight, it’s hard to swallow your pride and say ‘I need help with this,’ ” Krumm says. “This is a step towards relieving some of that anxiety and alleviating some of that dependency.” So she was thrilled when researchers at Utah State asked her to participate in the Robotic Guide research project. “It makes you feel more like a human, a valued member of society,” Krumm says.
 
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