New! Sign up for our free email newsletter.
Science News
from research organizations

Hear Here: University Of Toronto Robot Navigates Using Its Own Voice

Date:
December 10, 2003
Source:
University Of Toronto
Summary:
In the past, museum guides carried a clipboard and waved a flag to help straggling tourists find the group. In the future – thanks to technology developed at the University of Toronto – talking robotic guides carrying a customized microchip and four-way speakers could lead tourists from exhibit to exhibit.
Share:
FULL STORY

In the past, museum guides carried a clipboard and waved a flag to help straggling tourists find the group. In the future – thanks to technology developed at the University of Toronto – talking robotic guides carrying a customized microchip and four-way speakers could lead tourists from exhibit to exhibit.

"This is a very unique solution to navigating," says lead researcher Professor Parham Aarabi of U of T's Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. "Using an array of stationary microphones in the museum, this kind of system could accurately help the robot find its location using the sounds that it generates," says Aarabi, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Multi-Sensor Information Systems.

The robot consists of a motorized base and elevated speakers that play pre-recorded phrases. These are picked up by an array of microphones around the environment, which locate the robot on a master computer's virtual map. This computer then tells the robot where to move. If the robot encounters an object in its path using its hair-thin "whiskers," it backs up, reorients itself, then plots a new course around the obstacle.

Aarabi says the technology could be ready for use in less than two years, and that robot guides could eventually answer questions from the crowd using speech recognition. Beyond museums, this technology could also be deployed in hazardous environments like collapsed structures or chemically contaminated buildings. The study appears in the Nov.14 online issue of the journal Information Fusion.


Story Source:

Materials provided by University Of Toronto. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Cite This Page:

University Of Toronto. "Hear Here: University Of Toronto Robot Navigates Using Its Own Voice." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 10 December 2003. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/12/031210073847.htm>.
University Of Toronto. (2003, December 10). Hear Here: University Of Toronto Robot Navigates Using Its Own Voice. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 27, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/12/031210073847.htm
University Of Toronto. "Hear Here: University Of Toronto Robot Navigates Using Its Own Voice." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/12/031210073847.htm (accessed March 27, 2024).

Explore More

from ScienceDaily

RELATED STORIES