A headless, tailless robot dog called Spot has the potential to make a big difference for people across the world with vision impairment, thanks to Queensland researchers.
A headless, tailless robot dog called Spot has the potential to make a big difference for people across the world with vision impairment thanks to Queensland researchers.Electrical engineering student Santiago Velasquez said his experience as a guide dog user motivated him to take a bold leap forward in the assistance animal industry in a thesis he believes is a world first.
Mr Velasquez said with the right programming and design, robots could alleviate wait lists for guide dogs and help those living too far from assistance animal organisations. "Twenty years ago, a smartphone wasn't something that we would even consider. Nowadays most people don't own a camera, radio or a TV because they can do all of those things in a smartphone," he said.Training Trey the guide dog took two years but it will be 20 years before a robot could be used in replacement of an assistance animal."A regular dog without any training knows the difference between a green pole and tall green grass," he said.
"Maybe you update the training now and again, but you don't have to keep retraining the dogs because they're just robots. They're just programs. You just copy and paste." Guide Dogs Queensland mobility specialist Jason McKee says getting puppies ready to become guide dogs begins at about two weeks' of age."Nothing will beat the companionship, the intuition of the dog, then be able to forward think, see ahead and then make the early movements to guide someone safely," the guide dog mobility specialist said.Guide Dogs Queensland breed their dogs specifically for service and train them for the first two years of their lives at a cost of $50,000.
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