"I'll be your eyes"...Exhibition-viewing robots for the visually impaired appearance

[Anchor]
For the blind, the experience of culture and art is truly a "pie in the sky."

Researchers in Korea have developed a personalized viewing service using robots to improve accessibility to exhibitions for the visually impaired.

Reporter Lim Null-sol reports.

[Reporter]
Auditory materials are essential for the blind to enjoy video content such as movies and dramas.

In particular, scenes without lines are difficult to understand, but at this time, the screen commentator becomes the blind eye.

If the voice actor reads the text that vividly reveals the scene, you will be able to understand the work properly.

[Park Ha-young / Voice actor: Dad is on the back of Ki-ju] Mom and Jinju hold Dad's legs one by one on both sides. The host family runs to that state.]

However, in the case of exhibitions without auditory data, blind people often give up watching themselves because they have to meet the commentator's schedule.

However, domestic researchers have developed a robot service that explains the exhibition like a screen commentary voice actor while moving according to the walking speed of the blind.

The key is a 'haptic feedback system' that allows blind people to feel the robot's movement in real time with their fingertips.

A haptic device is attached to the self-driving robot to guide a comfortable viewing route without colliding with works or people in the exhibition hall, and the driving speed can be adjusted individually.

[Yoon Jung-won / Professor of Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology] I can also increase and decrease the speed as much as I want through haptics.] We are developing a technology that guides you to the back of the


robot so that you can navigate safely.

The research team conducted a demonstration test at Gwangju Segwang School, and will provide customized exhibition viewing services for the visually impaired at the Gwangju National Science Museum next year after technology advancement.

[Lee Yong-seok / Gwangju Segwang School Teacher: Until now, blind people could only watch through cultural commentators or those who provide information services at the museum. It was good to have the expectation that the blind could actively watch it (now).]

It is expected that visually impaired people who have been alienated from cultural viewing such as exhibitions can enjoy culture without barriers with the help of advanced robot technology.

I'm YTN Science Lim Neul-sol.

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video:Hwang Yumin