The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich had the idea of developing robot guide dogs for visually impaired people. An alternative for those who are unable to have dogs.
In France, there are more than a million people who suffer from severe visual impairment. However, there are only around 1,500 of them, a handful, who benefit from a guide dog. The training of the animal takes a long time. It requires two years of work on average with host families, trainers, associations and there is a 30% failure rate. So you often have to wait several years before a dog is available.
Hence the idea of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich to develop robots that could accomplish the same work. They started with robot dogs already available on the market. They added additional sensors to them. And they reprogrammed them for guidance.
Result: they are able to avoid a cable across the path, a construction site barrier, a sign at face height. All this better than a real dog which is especially effective in an environment it already knows.
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Technology costing 20,000 euros
Dogs are provided free of charge, but they are not necessarily cheaper. Between training, food and all care, it is estimated that a guide dog costs around €30,000 from birth to retirement. While the robot will have a fixed cost of around €20,000 initially. With drops expected over time like any technological product.
Paradoxically, robots will also be more likely to be accepted in places open to the public. We have heard these stories of visually impaired people who were prohibited from entering a taxi, a plane or a supermarket with their dog even though the law allows them to do so. The security guards will probably be more lenient with a robot.
But a dog is not just a guide, it is also a companion. The entire social and emotional dimension completely disappears with a robot. Again, the goal is not to replace dogs, simply to provide an alternative for those who cannot have one. But we can’t wait to see the reactions in the streets when a person is guided by one of these robot dogs.