# System Configuration and Navigation of a Guide Dog Robot: Toward Animal Guide Dog-Level Guiding Work

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2210.13368 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.13368/

## Key facts

- Cited by 7 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 9 of its 35 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 24 Oct 2022.

## Builds on (most cited first, 9 of 9)

- [MobileNetV2: Inverted Residuals and Linear Bottlenecks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1801.04381/) (2018)
- [Pyramid Scene Parsing Network](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1612.01105/) (2016)
- [Semantic Understanding of Scenes through the ADE20K Dataset](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1608.05442/) (2016)
- [Target-driven Visual Navigation in Indoor Scenes using Deep Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1609.05143/) (2016)
- [Cognitive Mapping and Planning for Visual Navigation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1702.03920/) (2017)
- [GONet: A Semi-Supervised Deep Learning Approach For Traversability Estimation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1803.03254/) (2018)
- [Robotic Guide Dog: Leading a Human with Leash-Guided Hybrid Physical Interaction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.14300/) (2021)
- [Quadruped Guidance Robot for the Visually Impaired: A Comfort-Based Approach](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.03927/) (2022)
- [Hierarchical and Safe Motion Control for Cooperative Locomotion of Robotic Guide Dogs and Humans: A Hybrid Systems Approach](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.03158/) (2019)

## Built on by (most cited first, 7 of 7)

- [Transforming a Quadruped into a Guide Robot for the Visually Impaired: Formalizing Wayfinding, Interaction Modeling, and Safety Mechanism](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.14055/) (2023)
- [GuideNav: User-Informed Development of a Vision-Only Robotic Navigation Assistant For Blind Travelers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.06147/) (2025)
- [Seeing-Eye Quadruped Navigation with Force Responsive Locomotion Control](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.04370/) (2023)
- [DogSurf: Quadruped Robot Capable of GRU-based Surface Recognition for Blind Person Navigation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.03156/) (2024)
- [Synthetic data augmentation for robotic mobility aids to support blind and low vision people](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.11164/) (2024)
- [RoboFind: Multi-Agent Personalized Object Search for People Who Are Blind or Have Low Vision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.20330/) (2026)
- [Lightweight and Resource-Efficient Perception for Robotic Guide Dogs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.03187/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

A robot guide dog has compelling advantages over animal guide dogs for its cost-effectiveness, potential for mass production, and low maintenance burden. However, despite the long history of guide dog robot research, previous studies were conducted with little or no consideration of how the guide dog handler and the guide dog work as a team for navigation. To develop a robotic guiding system that is genuinely beneficial to blind or visually impaired individuals, we performed qualitative research, including interviews with guide dog handlers and trainers and first-hand blindfold walking experiences with various guide dogs. Grounded on the facts learned from vivid experience and interviews, we build a collaborative indoor navigation scheme for a guide dog robot that includes preferred features such as speed and directional control. For collaborative navigation, we propose a semantic-aware local path planner that enables safe and efficient guiding work by utilizing semantic information about the environment and considering the handler's position and directional cues to determine the collision-free path. We evaluate our integrated robotic system by testing guide blindfold walking in indoor settings and demonstrate guide dog-like navigation behavior by avoiding obstacles at typical gait speed (0.7 m/s).