Saturday, August 1, 2020

Student creates a robotic guide dog for visually impaired

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Charvi Trivedi

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Student creates a robotic guide dog for visually impaired

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Global Views 360

Publication Date

August 1, 2020

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The prototype of handheld robotic guide dog

The prototype of handheld robotic guide dog | Source: Anthony Camu via Loughborough University

Anthony Camu, a final year Industrial Design and Technology student at Loughborough University is making headlines with his latest creation of a handheld robotic guide dog. This will be a great help to those people with visual impairment who might find it difficult to accommodate an actual guide dog in their homes.

The robot is named after the Titan goddess of light, ‘Theia’ and is shaped like a virtual gaming controller, which enthused Anthony to create this masterpiece in the first place. Theia listens to the user’s voice to lead them to their desired locations.

If the user has to go to some address (for eg. House number 4, 56th Street, Greenville Residency), they have to say ‘Hey Theia take me to House number 4, 56th Street, Greenville Residency*’. It will then process the actual data available online, like traffic density, and program the most secure route for the user to follow, quite similar to how GPS or satellite navigation works in our cars.

All the information is then communicated to the user via a machine built inside it, called a control moment gyroscope which uses the mechanism of ‘forced feedback’. These are used in spacecraft and their main function is to help in orientation purposes of the spacecraft, or in controlling the ‘spacecraft attitude’ using electric power.

This tiny built-in gyroscope physically moves the user’s hand in the direction they are supposed to go, thus giving them a feeling of being led by an actual guide dog. “The main intention was never to replace guide dogs, but instead to provide an alternative means of giving enhanced mobility options to visually impaired people” says Anthony Camu.

According to Mr. Camu, Theia will also be helpful in confronting challenging interactions like elevators or shops. While crossing a busy street, it will tend to ‘push back’ the users, cautioning them to be more sentient about their current surroundings. Moreover, Theia is quite pocket-friendly, costing about one-tenth the price of a real guide dog.

This tool will also contribute in imparting a sense of belonging and reduce the constant mental hassle and anxiety faced by the visually impaired population of the world. Since they are unable to assess their surroundings, it limits their outdoor movement. This will help them move in the outdoors more often and reduce stress while navigating the traffic on the road.

Anthony has created and experimented with many prototypes of Theia and some work is still needed to correct a few issues before the final launch his product in the market

However, he concluded that Theia has a promising future and it requires just a little more testing and research.“I know this is a grand vision, but I hope people can see the positive effects Theia could have on the blind community” he states.

*This address is fictional. Any similarity is purely coincidental.

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February 4, 2021 4:41 PM

What is the "Black Lives Matter" movement of USA

Over 55 years have passed since the signing of civil right laws which were supposed to be the panacea for all the ills of raciest abuses faced by the Black-Americans. A lot has increased since for the Black Americans but much more is still to do. They still live in the fear of law enforcement officials who monitor their movement on the street and also in their homes. The blacks are killed  at the lightest alleged provocation by city police without any fear of serious repercussion. The Federals law enforcement agencies also have a history of racist behavior and brutality towards black Americans.

“Black Lives Matter” movement was started in 2013, after a white person named George Zimmerman was acquitted in the shooting death of African-American teen Trayvon Martin in February 2012. The movement got its name as the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter was widely used on social media to protest the acquittal of George Zimmerman.  This movement aims to highlight the injustices, brutality, oppression, gratuitous killings, systemic racism, ruthlessness, bad form, and unaccountably that American culture, particularly law implementation, harbours toward black individuals. Dissenters have pointed out the uncalled intensity of the police, military weaponry, and impulsive usage of the same. The problem of policing in America is more than just individual bad police officers, the culture protects wrongdoers and rewards blind loyalty and is impervious to change. American citizens have recognized these loopholes and will not tolerate these wrongdoings anymore

On 25th May 2020, a 46-year-old black man named George Floyd, died at the hand of a police officer after allegedly using a counterfeit $20 bill at the convenience store. The killing was extensively covered by the cross section of media across the USA and American public saw the horror of the painful death of an unarmed black person by the police. A national-wide protest erupted as millions of people, including whites came out in the streets,  demanding justice for George Floyd. Slogans such as “I can’t breathe”, “All lives will not matter unless black lives don’t”, “Stop police brutality” were raised on the streets across the cities of America. The “Black Lives Movement” which was hitherto mostly confined to a section of blacks youths, quickly expanded to include a wide section of American citizens. 

In his death George Floyd became the symbol of police brutality against the black community in the USA and brought the “Black Lives Matter” from the fringe to the center of American social and political discourse.

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