The project promotes a fair recovery by targeting visually impaired people, aected by Covid-19 containment measures such as restrictions on the daily use of spaces and services.

The aim is to improve accessibility through an integrated approach blending inclusive design, ICT and robotics, that is, an autonomous tethered robotic guide to be employed in public places or indoor environments, as well as in support of sports activities.

In the BUDD-e project, the multidisciplinary skills (ICT, Automation, Design and Architecture) of the consortium members will be put to synergistic use in the service of Inclusive Design, thanks to which spaces and services can be made fully accessible, functional and usable by blind and visually impaired individuals.

Specifically, UserCentred Design approaches will be applied to support accessibility to public (mostly structured) spaces and indoor environments. Within these environments, the guide robot BUDD-e will play a key role in supporting the activities of blind and visually impaired users. BUDD-e will be an autonomous robot built on the specific needs of blind and visually impaired people, capable of guiding and supporting-with, for example, also the ability to carry goods-the user during daily routines, avoiding collisions, maintaining, if possible and required, the necessary speed and/or trajectory profiles, and conveying relevant path information via acoustic signals-e.g., warnings.

A preliminary analysis has led us to identify focus areas on which project activities will be concentrated. In particular, it is estimated that BUDD-e can have a strong impact on wayfinding applications in medical and care facilities, shopping centers and spaces, cultural centers (e.g., museums), and sports centers. In particular, the E4sport laboratory will support the BUDD-e project in its use within the Giuriati sports center to support the training of blind and visually impaired users during sports activities, such as running.