用视觉导航的机器人模仿导盲犬,教一次走一遍,户外长距离稳定可靠。
GuideNav: User-Informed Development of a Vision-Only Robotic Navigation Assistant For Blind Travelers
- 基于人类观察与访谈,设计可复现路径的视觉导航系统。
- 在5个户外场景完成千米级路径重演,教与重演时环境变化仍稳定。
- 适合关注无障碍智能助行、仿生导航的开发者与研究者。
尽管在面向视障/低视力(BLV)人群的移动辅助系统用户中心研究上已取得显著进展,但直接指导机器人导航设计的实证参考仍然稀缺。为弥合这一差距,我们开展了全面的人类研究,包括对26名导盲犬使用者、4名白杖使用者、9名导盲犬训练员及1名定向行走训练员的访谈,以及超过15小时导盲犬协助行走的观察。去标识化后,我们公开了该数据集,以促进面向BLV人群的辅助系统以人为本的设计与决策。基于这些前期研究,我们开发了GuideNav——一种仅依赖视觉的“教学-重复”导航系统。受导盲犬训练与协助方式启发,该系统通过机器人自主重复由普通人示范的路径。具体而言,系统构建所教路线的拓扑表示,结合视觉场景识别与时间滤波,并使用相对位姿估计算法生成导航动作,完全不依赖昂贵、笨重且耗电的传感器(如激光雷达)。实地测试表明,GuideNav在5个户外环境中实现了千米级的路径跟随,即使在教学与重演阶段存在明显场景变化,依然保持高可靠性。一项包含3名导盲犬使用者和1名导盲犬训练员的用户研究进一步验证了系统的可行性,标志着(据我们所知)首个四足移动系统以类似导盲犬的方式实现路径重现。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
While commendable progress has been made in user-centric research on mobile assistive systems for blind and low-vision (BLV) individuals, references that directly inform robot navigation design remain rare. To bridge this gap, we conducted a comprehensive human study involving interviews with 26 guide dog handlers, four white cane users, nine guide dog trainers, and one O\&M trainer, along with 15+ hours of observing guide dog-assisted walking. After de-identification, we open-sourced the dataset to promote human-centered development and informed decision-making for assistive systems for BLV people. Building on insights from this formative study, we developed GuideNav, a vision-only, teach-and-repeat navigation system. Inspired by how guide dogs are trained and assist their handlers, GuideNav autonomously repeats a path demonstrated by a sighted person using a robot. Specifically, the system constructs a topological representation of the taught route, integrates visual place recognition with temporal filtering, and employs a relative pose estimator to compute navigation actions - all without relying on costly, heavy, power-hungry sensors such as LiDAR. In field tests, GuideNav consistently achieved kilometer-scale route following across five outdoor environments, maintaining reliability despite noticeable scene variations between teach and repeat runs. A user study with 3 guide dog handlers and 1 guide dog trainer further confirmed the system's feasibility, marking (to our knowledge) the first demonstration of a quadruped mobile system retrieving a path in a manner comparable to guide dogs.
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