STORY: Could this six-legged robot replace real guide dogs?
Its developers in China think so, and hope the robot dog could one day help vision impaired people live a more independent life.
:: Robots at Work
:: Shanghai, China
The robot is currently being field-tested by the research team at Jiao Tong University in Shanghai.
It's able to navigate its physical environment via cameras and sensors.
It can also plan routes and recognize traffic light signals, which traditional guide dogs are unable to do.
Visually impaired couple Li Fei and Zhu Sibin are helping to test the robot.
They communicate with it via Artificial Intelligence technology.
:: Li Fei
"I can tell the robot where I'm going via voice recognition. I can control the speed with this blind cane I have. If I need it to go faster, I just push it all the way forward. If I need it to slow down, I just pull it back and it will adjust its speed."
Robot guide dogs are under development in other countries but China has a drastic shortage of traditional guide dogs.
Pet ownership and service animals are also relatively new concepts in the Asian country.
Professor Gao Feng leads the research team at Jiao Tong University.
He says the production of robot dogs can be scaled, especially in a major manufacturing hub like China.
:: Gao Feng, Jiao Tong University's School of Mechanical Engineering
"There are only more than 400 guide dogs in service in China. We have nearly 20 million blind people. It is impossible to solve this problem with guide dogs. Robots are a lot like cars, and we can mass-produce them in the same way as cars. It will become more affordable."
