>It is interesting to see the lengths they will go, when a
>well-informed human being would be 1000 times better.
Dave
> >
> > Major Retailer Tests Robots for Blind Shoppers
> > By Evan Schuman 2005-05-15
> >
> > Some visually impaired shoppers in Utah can already
> > walk into one of the retail giant's stores and shop with
> > an RFID-reading, voice-synthesized R2D2 wannabe. One
> > large national retailer has started quietly testing a
> > university-created robot designed to help visually
> > impaired consumers navigate store aisles and
> > find their desired products.
> > The robot-named RG, for Robotic Guide-is the creation
> > of Vladimir Kulyukin, an assistant professor of
> > computer science at Utah State University and the
> > director of the university's Computer Science
> > Assistive Technology Laboratory.
> >
> > The initial version of RG-which weighs about 22 pounds and is roughly
> > the height of an upright vacuum cleaner-is limited to three basic
> > functions.
> >
> > First, it guides the consumer through the aisles and
> > around people, displays and merchandise using RFID
> > readers and 16 ultrasonic sonars. The navigation
> > system is sophisticated enough to handle
> > environments-including elevators and limited open
> > spaces-that usually literally trip up robots, Kulyukin
> > said.
> >
> > The university has posted quite a few videos of RG
> > in various stages of testing.
> >
> > Its second function is to communicate with the
> > consumer. It takes instructions via a small Braille
> > directory of products that is attached to the robot's
> > handle, and it replies to the shopper's questions
> > with spoken answers.
> >
> > The third function is to use its RFID reader to locate
> > the desired products. The store's RFID tags help the
> > robot navigate the lanes as well as locate products.
> >
> > "There are RFID sensors placed on the shelves in the
> > store. The robot has the RFID antennae and detects the
> > presence of those tags," Kulyukin said. "That's how it
> > knows it's reached the Colgate section of the
> > toothpaste shelf and it then announces, "You have
> > reached the Colgate toothpaste section, on your right.'"
> >
> > The robot has its limitations, though. Until item-level
> > tagging becomes the norm, the system can indicate
> > only the part of the shelf where the product is
> > supposed to be. If it's been moved-either by an
> > employee moving stock who forgot to move the
> > update the RFID tag or by another consumer who
> > put a tube of Aim toothpaste amidst the Colgate-the
> > visually impaired consumer might grab the wrong
> > product.
> >
> > "It certainly can be jumbled, and there is the potential
> > to pick up the wrong product," Kulyukin said, adding
> > that his team is trying to add a robotic bar code into
> > the system so that the robot would announce the
> > product being placed in the cart. That functionality
> > would likely address most of the mistaken product
> > purchases, he said.
> >
> > The robot's development is still at a very early stage
> > and has thus far mostly been paid for with a $500,000
> > grant from the National Science Foundation, Kulyukin
> > said. He is negotiating with a large national retail
> > chain to buy the units and invest in its further
> > development.
> >
> > Kulyukin refused to identify the chain, but an employee
> > in the university's public relations department, Whitney
> > Wilkinson, said the chain was indeed Wal-Mart.
> > Kulyukin also said Wal-Mart was testing it locally.
> >
> > Shortly after this story appeared, Wal-Mart attorneys
> > and a representative a Wal-Mart's public relations
> > department called Wilkinson and others at Utah State.
> > Wilkinson then stepped back from her comment,
> > explaining that she meant that the local outlet of Wal-
> > Mart had been testing the robot and that she had no
> > knowledge of anything beyond that. Kulyukin said
> > that the local Wal-Mart store was using the robot for
> > its customers and that any references to
> > "negotiating" with Wal-Mart were about the terms
> > of the usage.
> >
> > Kulyukin also said that there is a large national
> > retail chain exploring a financial investment in his
> > department's robot, but he continued to decline
> > to identify the chain.
> >
> > The store manager of the Wal-Mart store in North
> > Logan, Utah, right near the university's labs,
> > confirmed that RG had arrived.
> >
> > "It's a great thing for the customers who don't
> > have their eyesight," said Wal-Mart store manager
> > Ron Tuttle. "We have a lot of customers who come
> > in and ask for someone to help them. I talked with
> > one lady and she was very excited about it
> > because it makes her feel more independent."
> >
> > Next Page: Keeping the cost low.
> >
> > The cost of the robots will vary depending on how
> > many of them Kulyukin's team is asked to create,
> > but he purposely kept the cost low. To create a
> > second robot would cost him about $10,000, he
> > said, adding that the per-unit cost would drop to
> > about $4,000 to $5,000 if thousands were
> > ordered and to about $1,500 if millions were
> > ordered. He said he will need about $3 million
> > to $5 million in seed money to move to the next
> > stage of development and production.
> > The technical hardware of the system is simple:
> > Most of the components sit in a PVC pipe structure.
> > The robot's microcontroller is attached to a laptop,
> > with which it communicates via serial cable. The
> > laptop also can communicate using an 802.11b
> > wireless card.
> >
> > Kulyukin said he has spent much of his life focused
> > on using technology to help those with physical
> > challenges, partly to help his brother, who has
> > always had severe hearing disabilities. "Growing
> > up as the brother of a disabled child, I know
> > firsthand how harsh the environment can be on
> > you," he said.
> >
> > The problem of blind shoppers is fairly widespread.
> > The National Institutes of Health's National Eye
> > Institute estimates that 80 million Americans today
> > have potentially blinding eye diseases and 1.1
> > million people are legally blind.
> >
> > "Approximately 12 million people have some degree
> > of visual impairment that cannot be corrected by
> > glasses, and more than 100 million people need
> > corrective lenses to see properly," the institute's
> > Web site says.
> >
> > Given that RG is only in very limited experimentation
> > today, how do most blind consumers shop? "They
> > simply don't go grocery shopping," Kulyukin said. "If
> > you happen to have a sighted spouse or a friend,
> > that's what you do. [RG] is an independence device."
> >
> > The business side of the retail argument for these
> > robots is twofold. First, the people who shop for
> > those blind consumers might not shop at the places
> > those consumers would want. These kinds of robots
> > would return the store-selection power back to
> > those consumers.
> >
> > Secondly, not many grocery stores have the financial
> > resources of a Wal-Mart to invest in this level of
> > robotic technology. Arguably, this could be a major
> > differentiating factor in bringing visually impaired
> > customers-and their friends and families-to Wal-Mart
> > who might otherwise have shopped at the competition.
> >
> > Kulyukin also said that having a small squadron of
> > robots around a retail shop could be valuable in
> > other ways. When there are no customers using
> > the robots, they can assist in moving merchandise,
> > carrying extremely heavy boxes and unloading
> > trucks. After all, what good is having a bionic robotic
> > arm if it's not flexed once in a while?
> >
> > The robot "doesn't have to sit idly in the store. It
> > can optimize the store's supply operations,"
> > Kulyukin said. "Instead of letting a truck come to
> > the store and having it unloaded manually, load it
> > onto the robot and then let the robot deliver it."
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