Can AI-powered robotic dogs help address the growing shortage of guide dogs? A team of innovators in the UK thinks the answer could be yes.
A growing demand for guide dogs, coupled with a limited supply, has resulted in an ever-lengthening waiting list for those who require canine assistance. The high cost of breeding, training, and maintaining guide dogs can be prohibitive, whilst allergies and cultural/religious factors can limit the use of canine guide dogs for some people.
Innovators Matthew Bottomley and Christopher Thomas (UK) say: “We envision a world where assistive technology is accessible and affordable for everyone who needs it to help with both their independent living and mental health.”
After many years working in the sector, it was clear to Matthew that whilst many excellent Assistance Dog services are available to people with disabilities and/or other complex needs, dogs and other services are not always available or appropriate.
Whilst attending the World Police Summit in Dubai in March 2023 as an invited speaker, Matthew saw demonstrations of artificially intelligent ‘robotic dogs’ performing detection tasks useful for police forces and the military. They were specifically being designed to perform tasks that may be potentially dangerous for humans to perform.
Inspired by what he had seen, Matthew thought there may be potential in using these robotic ‘dogs’ as a service to people with disabilities or anyone in need of task assistance or improvement in their independence and wellbeing, much in the same way as Assistance Dog organisations currently operate.
After discussion with Christopher Thomas, an expert in Artificial Intelligence, they both agreed that this was a service that could be provided to augment and supplement the existing wonderful canine service dog service offers currently available (and not to replace it).
And so was born Robotic Assistance Dogs AI – a service to enhance and improve the independence, mobility and wellbeing of its users through the provision of artificially intelligent robotic assistance dogs.
They are excited to introduce the AI Robotically Engineered Guide (REG) – an innovative solution that harnesses the power of artificial intelligence, robotics, and cutting-edge sensors to revolutionise the field of assistance for vision impaired people.
REG is not intended to be a replacement for traditional canine assistance dogs, instead to provide a useful alternative to supplement and augment where canine assistance dogs cannot be supplied. REG replicates some of the capabilities of a canine assistance dog and adds capabilities only possible via technology.
Why Robotic Assistance Dogs?
According to Robotic Assistance Dogs Limited, key statistics include:
- 285 million people worldwide are visually impaired.
- 2 million people living with sight loss in the UK.
- 340,000 people are registered blind or partially sighted in the UK.
- Every day in the UK around 250 people start to lose their sight, equivalent to one person every six minutes.
- One in five people in the UK will live with sight loss in their lifetime.
- UK and International ongoing shortage of trained canine guide dogs.
Approximately 285 million people worldwide are vision impaired, with 39 million of them being totally blind. In the UK alone, there are an estimated 2 million people living with sight loss. With the growing ageing population, these numbers are expected to increase significantly.
In the UK, there are approximately 20,000 new registrations of individuals as being blind or partially sighted. This figure translates to an average of 57 new registrations per day. It’s important to note that these figures represent only those who chose to register and hence will be an underestimate not including all individuals who are blind or partially sighted in the UK.
The ongoing shortage and high cost of trained canine guide dogs has presented a significant barrier to accessibility for vision impaired people in the UK and worldwide. In the UK, according to the Guide Dogs for the Blind official figures they created 387 new guide dog partnerships in 2022, with less expected in 2023, although hopefully then rising.
This has led to long waiting lists for Guide Dogs and other Assistance Dog services, particularly since the Covid 19 pandemic.
Representatives of Robotic Assistance Dogs Limited also note that a variety of factors may prevent people from using a guide dog, including:
- dislike of dogs.
- allergies to dogs (self or family/friends/work colleagues)
- cost of maintenance (feeding, vets bills)
- avoidance of emotional turmoil when a dog passes away.
- insufficient skills to handle a dog appropriately and consistently.
- inappropriate environment for a dog.
- inability to satisfy general dog care, health, wellbeing and hygiene needs.
At present there are few viable alternatives to Guide or Assistance Dogs that support and deliver independence. Other than the use of canes for those with sight loss, be it long, short, guide or support cane, people with various disabilities are often largely dependent on human guides and support. Whilst this suits and works for some people, many seek, crave and deserve independence where it is possible.
In the Guide and Assistance Dog world, it is widely acknowledged and accepted that the trained dog can provide that essential independence as well as providing so many additional benefits including general companionship and more seamless integration into the community. For Guide Dogs, it is widely acknowledged and accepted that the dog also provides a more fluent and efficient form of travel in comparison to the various canes that are on offer.
With all this in mind, and where a Canine Assistant is not possible or feasible, we believe our Robotic Assistance Dogs will fill this gap and meet the needs of many.
In the UK it costs over 55 thousand pounds for each guide dog over the course of its life, given the decreasing cost of advanced robotics our proposed Robotic Assistance Dog should be more than viable from a cost perspective.
Matthew Bottomley
Matthew is currently Director of Canine Strategies Limited, following a long and successful career in the Guide Dog world. Whilst time was served predominantly at Guide Dogs UK, it also included considerable international collaboration, including work as an International Guide Dog Federation Assessor.
Christopher Thomas
Christopher Thomas, with an honours degree in AI and Machine Learning, is a innovator who has dedicated over 23 years to advancing technology in various fields. His journey into Artificial Intelligence began more than two decades ago, marked by a cited thesis on image processing and edge detection using Machine Learning, Evolutionary Programming and Genetic Algorithms. This work has been recognized in five academic papers, illustrating Christopher’s early contributions to the field.
15.06.2026.
