Scientists from China’s Shanghai Jiao Tong University are developing a robot “guide dog” to help blind people. The robot dog is about the size of an English bulldog but a little wider. It has six legs instead of four. The extra legs make it more stable and help it move faster.
The robot is being tested in Shanghai. With the help of cameras and AI, the robot dog can see, listen and speak with blind people. It can help them during daily trips outside and be a “friend” at home. Blind people can also use a cane (手杖) to control the robot’s walking and running speed. The robot can even recognize the traffic lights—real guide dogs are unable to do that.
Li Fei and Zhu Sibin are helping test the robot. Li is totally blind and Zhu can only see a little. Zhu often uses a cane to move around. “The robot dog will make it easier to get into public places than with real guide dogs. I am happy to join in the test. It could change our lives in the near future,” Li said.
In China, there are about 17.31 million blind people, but there are only about 400 guide dogs. The new robot is trying to solve this problem. “We believe our robot will act as ‘a pair of eyes’ for blind people,” said Professor Gao Peng, one of the scientists. He thinks there could be a large market for these robot dogs.