<html><head><style type='text/css'>p { margin: 0; }</style></head><body><div style='font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; color: #000000'><P><A href="http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/3441/ga-researchers-teach-a-robot-a-service-dogs-tasks">http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/3441/ga-researchers-teach-a-robot-a-service-dogs-tasks</A></P>
<P> </P>
<P>Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have <A href="http://www.gatech.edu/newsroom/release.html?id=2219&ga=2">created a robot,</A> named El-E, that can perform 10 of the 70-plus tasks that service dogs normally perform for people with physical impairments.</P>
<P>Like a service dog, El-E can heed voice commands. But instead of watching a human’s gestures for visual clues to accompany each command, the robot follows a laser-pointer beam to learn what object the command refers to. The laser might point, for instance, to a door handle to be opened, or an item to be brought to the person delivering the command.</P>
<P>Charles C. Kemp, an assistant professor biomedical engineering at Georgia Tech, is director of the Healthcare Robotics Lab, which developed the robot (the lab is a joint undertaking between Georgia Tech and Emory University). Mr. Kemp says his team studied a golden retriever named Betty for clues in creating the robot. He notes that while a robot can’t provide the companionship that a dog offers, people who need service dogs currently face “a multi-year waiting list,” in part because the dogs require lengthy, expensive training.</P>
<P>A <A href="http://www.hsi.gatech.edu/hrl/ele_video.shtml">video about El-E is available online.</A><BR><BR>--------------------<BR>Daniel Berkowitz<BR>Digilife Media, LLC<BR>1 Bryant Avenue<BR>Bradford, MA 01835-7424<BR><BR>phone: 978-914-4601<BR>e-mail: dann@digilifemedia.biz<BR>web: www.digilifemedia.biz<BR></P></div></body></html>