What are a blind person’s options if they need a guide dog but cannot afford one? Can they get a robot instead? Anthony Camu, a student at Loughborough University, has recently designed a hand held product that more or less acts as a guide dog and helps blind people navigate to their destinations with ease.
This portable handheld device, named “Theia”, gets instructions from the user (“Theia, take me to Starbucks”), and using its built in “control moment gyroscope”, physically leads them to their destination, very similar to how it would feel if the user were pulling on a guide dog’s leash that was taking them somewhere. Theia is also capable of processing real time data (such as traffic and weather) to guide users correctly and safely to their destination. According to Anthony, Theia aims to make a blind person’s life comfortable by providing them with abilities that they otherwise may not happen. Theia is especially helpful for blind people who cannot afford to keep a guide dog with them because of monetary or space constraints.
Watch the video below to learn more about Theia.
As of now, Theia is still a prototype but has potential to become a real product in the future. What do you think?
Source: Engineering & Technology