Overview
- The Binghamton University team built a prototype robot guide dog that talks with users through a large language model, cited by the researchers as GPT-4.
- The system explains route options before a trip through plan verbalization, then describes surroundings during travel through scene verbalization.
- In indoor trials with seven legally blind participants, the robot asked for a destination, offered routes with estimated times, and guided users with spoken updates to the end point.
- Participants rated the combined approach of pre-trip explanations with real-time narration highest, reporting better confidence and an easier sense of control.
- The work remains a prototype presented at the AAAI conference, with plans for more user studies, greater autonomy, and longer indoor and outdoor navigation.