Monitoring Blind Regions with Prior Knowledge Based Sound Localization

Abstract

This paper presents a sound localization method designed for dealing with blind regions. The proposed approach mimics Human’s ability of guessing what is happening in the blind regions by using prior knowledge. A user study was conducted to demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed method for human-robot interaction in environments with blind regions. The subjects participated in a shoplifting scenario during which the shop clerk was a robot that has to rely on its hearing to monitor a blind region. The participants understood the enhanced capability of the robot and it favorably affected the rating of the robot using the proposed method.