RoboGuideDog: Guiding Blind users Through Physical Environments with Laser Range Scanners

Abstract

In this paper we discuss initial concepts of the development of a fully automatic guide dog system for blind users. The physical scene is scanned using a laser range device, and the three dimensional point cloud measurements are analyzed and transformed into a description of the environment that is communicated to the user via synthetic speech and/or haptic feedback allowing the user to navigate around physical space.