The new practice of the people's city, the Yangpu Riverside, which integrates humanistic care and century-old industrial civilization, has a new landscape. On the riverside, stop-and-go, as a visually impaired person, she experienced the help of a guide dog for the first time. Forward, stop, turn, every action is done like flowing water, encountering pedestrians or obstacles, guide dogs can also immediately perceive, emergency avoidance. She was "navigated" by a different electronic guide dog, which not only "long" had six legs, but also had four "senses" at the same time, and "never forget" the route she had taken...... In the era of rapid development of science and technology, more and more R&D personnel have invested in the exploration of electronic guide dogs, trying to open up a new way for the visually impaired.
Towards the "new", with humanistic care as the "navigation". In Yangpu Binjiang, the urban temperature "penetrates" the texture of century-old industrial civilization, and the waterfront space is shared "without discrimination", which will provide better services for the whole population.
Six legs, four "senses", unforgettable, visually impaired people will have a "new partner" when traveling
At two o'clock in the afternoon, on the bank of the Yangpu Riverside, Li Fei, a visually impaired person, was walking along the river under the guidance of a guide dog, which was her first experience of the help of a guide dog. Stop-and-go, just 100 meters, is already very satisfying for Li Fei. Li Fei's guide dog is different, it "long" six legs, forward, stop, turn, every action is done as if the clouds are flowing, encountering pedestrians or obstacles, it can also immediately perceive, emergency avoidance.
This is an electronic guide dog developed by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, this trip to Yangpu Riverside, as a "newborn calf" it is the first time to conduct field operation tests under the leadership of the visually impaired, and the R & D personnel accompany the whole process to collect data and ensure Li Fei's safety.
"Three legs at a time" to form a steady triangle on the ground
Guide dogs, is the "eyes" of the visually impaired, the importance is self-evident, training difficult, long cycle, high cost, so it has become the highest elimination rate of all working dogs. According to the data of the China Association of the Blind, there are currently 17.31 million visually impaired people in the mainland, and the number of guide dogs in service is only about 400. More and more R&D personnel are investing in the exploration of electronic guide dogs, which is to alleviate the current situation of "a dog is hard to find" and bring convenience to the daily travel of more blind people.
After the test, Li Fei couldn't help but touch the electronic guide dog, as if he was touching a real puppy. "Contrary to popular imagination, not every visually impaired person is good at using a guide cane, like I usually need family or friends to take with me," Li Fei said, "This experience is great, when the electronic guide dog leads me forward, I can take a straighter route, and if I walk by myself, people who can't see can't walk in a straight line." ”
For the visually impaired to "navigate", safety and stability are the key words. This is also the reason why electronic guide dogs "grow" six legs.
Chen Zhijun, an assistant researcher at the School of Mechanical and Power Engineering of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, told reporters: "Many robots on the market imitate the shape of a dog, made into four legs, and take two steps at a time when walking, standing on the ground, forming a line, which is an unstable state, and the fuselage is easy to tilt left and right, so it needs to keep stepping to maintain dynamic stability." Our electronic guide dog, it walks on three legs at a time, forming a support triangle on the ground, and the stability coefficient is very high. Even if it doesn't take a step all the time, it can stand firm. ”
Six-legged is just one of the highlights of the electronic guide dog. There is no need to be connected to the Internet all the time, and each route will be recorded in the "memory" and "unforgettable"; At the same time, it has four "senses", which can be heard, seen, spoken, and felt...... Compared with animal guide dogs, electronic guide dogs have many advantages, and they have taken into account the individual needs of the visually impaired.
In order to ensure the safety of the visually impaired, the default speed when working is 0.6-0.8 meters per second, but as long as you push and pull hard, you can increase or decrease the speed. Chen Zhijun introduced: "Our speed is changed through force interaction, and the force on the blind man's hand is sensed through the blind cane, and the push is accelerated and the pull is slowed down. For example, in the use of Ms. Li Fei this time, the maximum speed of the electronic guide dog is 1.6 meters per second. ”
The landing use of electronic guide dogs requires a "two-pronged approach" of technology research and development and management system
After the practical test, Li Fei put forward some suggestions for improvement, such as the voice function needs to be improved. "We now have voice announcements of traffic light signals, but after this test, we have learned that the frequency and detail of voice prompts need to be improved," Chen Zhijun said. We plan to add more voice warning functions to the robot, such as early reminders of turns, stairs ahead, etc., to increase the sense of security of the visually impaired. ”
Next, Shanghai Jiao Tong University will continue to develop and debug electronic guide dogs based on the actual feedback from Li Fei and other visually impaired people.
According to Gao Feng, chair professor of the School of Mechanical and Power Engineering of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the current use of electronic guide dogs requires support from both technology research and development and management systems. "If you want to popularize electronic guide dogs, you must go through a major adjustment of the social management system. For example, the government background to establish a service system, after each electronic guide dog goes out, we have to monitor its location in real time. In addition, additional entries should be added in the area of public services. For example, if a visually impaired person takes an electronic guide dog on a bus, how can the electronic guide dog get on and off the bus freely? These require further research. At present, Yangpu District, Shanghai and the whole country attach great importance to the work of electronic guide dogs, and we look forward to this project benefiting more visually impaired people in the future. ”
The urban temperature "penetrates" the texture of century-old industrial civilization, and the waterfront space is shared "without difference".
When there are manhole covers and grates on the barrier-free passage, the width or diameter of the holes should not be greater than 13 mm, and the strip holes should be perpendicular to the direction of traffic; The transverse slope of the wheelchair ramp should not be greater than 1:50, the longitudinal depth should not be greater than 1:12, the net width should not be less than 1.2 meters, and when the length exceeds 9 meters, a wheelchair rest platform should be set up every 9 meters, and 100% of the barrier-free toilets should be set up to ensure that the distance between the toilets on the barrier-free main passage is less than 600 meters; The distance between barrier-free rest seats shall not be less than 150 meters......
These detailed regulations are all derived from Shanghai's first guidelines for the barrier-free construction of public spaces, the Guidelines for the Construction of Barrier-free Environment in Yangpu Riverside Public Spaces (hereinafter referred to as the "Guidelines") issued in 2022. "A glimpse of the whole leopard", every millimeter of truth is related to the improvement of the perception of the disabled group, which is the epitome of Yangpu's "life show belt". The field test of electronic guide dogs here is of positive significance for the construction of Yangpu Riverside Space Barrier-free Innovation Demonstration Zone.
The purpose of returning to the people is to enable all people to participate in social life in a real, full and comfortable manner. Therefore, "barrier-free" is not only limited to serving some groups, but also citizens with large luggage and short-term injuries are also the beneficiaries of Yangpu Riverside barrier-free facilities. For example, whether it is the elderly in wheelchairs, the disabled, or parents with strollers, they can easily reach the water platform by passing through the ramp here...... At present, 5.5 kilometers of the southern section of Yangpu Binjiang have been fully connected to the facilities without barriers.
In addition to the upgrading of space construction to make all kinds of people accessible to the people, the "Guidelines" also pay attention to the creation of information barrier-free, design a "visual" sign system for the hearing-impaired, and develop a voice system for the visually impaired, with the help of digital technology for the disabled to swim in the riverside to find "another possibility" - the comprehensive development of the Yangpu Riverside audio guide system for the whole population, to provide citizens and tourists with architecture, navigation and other information; The introduction of important attractions will be available in Braille or audio, and will be combined with barrier-free public self-service devices for the visually impaired. In the relevant smart applications of Yangpu Binjiang, a barrier-free version has also been developed to support information query assistance functions, and if there are hearing-impaired people accessing, the human service will convert the voice information into SMS text or WeChat text......
"Guidelines for the Construction of Barrier-free Environment in Yangpu Riverside Public Space" has been selected as 50 high-quality cases of barrier-free environment construction in 5 categories in China; "Yangpu Riverside Public Space Barrier-free Environment Construction Project" was selected as a typical case of urban renewal issued by the General Office of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (the first batch).
In the next step, Yangpu Binjiang will form a "1 main and 7 auxiliary" service station system in the first phase of the 5.5-kilometer construction section, so that the Sunshine Integrated Service Center and 7 party-mass service stations and wharves will form a party-mass linkage service mechanism, and add barrier-free service functions at each station, so as to form an "undifferentiated" waterfront shared space. The humanistic care of the city, the deep integration with the spatial characteristics of the Yangpu Riverside and the century-old industrial civilization, the concept culture and design planning of "barrier-free" will provide better services for the whole population.
Editor: Zhang Chenfei and Xi Yuxuan
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