Budd-e, the robot guide for blind people developed by a team of researchers coordinated by Prof. Marcello Farina from the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering – Politecnico di Milano, won the Agenas (National Agency for Regional Health Services) ‘Digital Health Innovation’ Award.
Budd-e is a special self-driving robot that aims to guide blind people inside structured spaces such as hospitals, sports and shopping centres and museums.
Designed and developed by Politecnico di Milano researchers and tested and validated at Ospedale Niguarda, Budd-e is able to learn the routes within the hospital and accompany blind people from the entrance to the destination ward or clinic and back.
The project is proposed as a solution to improve accessibility and quality of life for blind people. It was funded by Politecnico di Milano through Polisocial Award 2021, which finances high social impact research with the 5x1000 donated to the university.
The ‘Digital Health Innovation’ initiative is organised by Agenas in collaboration with SICS – Italian Society for Scientific and Health Communication. Budd-e was awarded in the category ‘Project innovativeness in relation to the use of ICT – concreteness – sustainability and replicability’.