"I am the follower, also the boss": Exploring Different Levels of Autonomy and Machine Forms of Guiding Robots for the Visually Impaired

TL;DR

This study investigates how different levels of autonomy and robot forms (cane vs. car) affect guiding robot effectiveness and user perception for visually impaired individuals through controlled and field experiments.

Contribution

It introduces autonomy-switchable guiding robots and provides empirical insights into user preferences and performance with different robot forms and autonomy levels.

Findings

Full autonomy improves walking performance in controlled settings.

Participants prefer partial autonomy in natural environments.

Car robots offer higher safety and navigation efficiency.

Abstract

Guiding robots, in the form of canes or cars, have recently been explored to assist blind and low vision (BLV) people. Such robots can provide full or partial autonomy when guiding. However, the pros and cons of different forms and autonomy for guiding robots remain unknown. We sought to fill this gap. We designed autonomy-switchable guiding robotic cane and car. We conducted a controlled lab-study (N=12) and a field study (N=9) on BLV. Results showed that full autonomy received better walking performance and subjective ratings in the controlled study, whereas participants used more partial autonomy in the natural environment as demanding more control. Besides, the car robot has demonstrated abilities to provide a higher sense of safety and navigation efficiency compared with the cane robot. Our findings offered empirical evidence about how the BLV community perceived different machine forms and autonomy, which can inform the design of assistive robots.