COVID-19 pandemics and related politics have strongly impacted on people’s life and, even more dramatically, that of people with visual impairment – 4% of the planet population. This is due to the fact that blind and visual impaired (BVI) people need tactile contact with the environment and a guide for moving and orienteering.
The goal of the BUDD-e (Blind-assistive aUtonomous Drive Device) project is to make public spaces and services, such as shopping centers and cultural centers/museums, accessible, functional and usable by BVI persons.
The project will be divided into two sub-objectives:
- design and realize a first prototype of the innovative autonomous robotic guide BUDD-e for blind and visually impaired (BVI) persons;
- design accessible and inclusive public places and indoor environments where BUDD-e can take the role of a guide for BVI persons and permit the fruition of the offered services.
BUDD-e is one of the 5 high social impact research projects of the Politecnico di Milano selected via the last edition of the Polisocial Award to be financed by funds from the 5×1000 donations (a fraction of the personal income tax each Italian citizen can donate to support a non-profit organisation).
THE PROJECT TEAM
Marcello Farina, Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering (principal investigator)
Emanuele Lettieri, Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering (project manager)
Luca Bascetta, Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering
Matteo Corno, Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering
Manuela Galli, Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering
Giuseppe Andreoni, Department of Design
Paolo Perego, Department of Design
Andrea Rebecchi, Department of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering
