• Schedule: Monday 16 - Friday 19
    Location: Exhibition Area

    AIDA (Artificial Intelligence Driving Autonomous) is an ambitious project by the Politecnico di Milano, aimed at experimenting with autonomous driving on public roads. Of particular importance was the participation in the 2023 and 2024 editions of the historic 1000 Miglia race and in the Trofeo Vallecamonica, events that have allowed the system’s capabilities to be tested in highly demanding and competitive contexts. Simultaneously, numerous new tests will be launched in urban environments with the objective of evaluating the effectiveness and reliability of autonomous driving in real and complex traffic scenarios. The project aims to create a future where road safety and reliability are significantly improved. This approach not only promises to reduce accidents and increase safety for all road users but also to make mobility more efficient and sustainable. With the “AIDA” project, the Politecnico di Milano not only positions itself at the forefront of technological research but also commits to playing a key role in shaping the future of Italian mobility. The adoption of artificial intelligence in autonomous driving represents both a challenge and an opportunity to redefine the way we move, laying the foundations for a new era of innovation and progress in the transportation sector.

  • A systematic review conducted in 2020 identified the number of blind and visually impaired people in the world: of the 7.79 billion people living on earth, 49.1 million were totally blind, 33.6 million had severe vision problems and 221.4 million had moderate vision problems. Due to an aging population, it is estimated that the rate of people affected by vision problems will continue to increase in the coming decades.

    One of the major problems for visually impaired people is the difficulty of navigating in unfamiliar environments. This creates barriers and inequalities, e.g., in accessing buildings and services and in participating in sports. 

    The use of traditional assistive devices can be problematic. For example, relying solely on the white cane does not solve a solution to the autonomy problem; additionally, some visually impaired individuals may experience unfavorable emotions when using such a tool. Also, guide dogs require attention from the users and, even if they are well trained, they can't be left alone for a long time. In addition, assistance dogs are often denied access to many public spaces.

    This highlights the need to provide novel solutions that, on the one hand, can guarantee assistance to visually impaired people and, on the other hand, can contribute to simplifying the role of caregivers, e.g., through the development of appropriate and dedicated technological assistive tools. In this project we have designed and realized a first prototype of the innovative autonomous robotic guide BUDD-e for blind and visually impaired persons, endowed with an innovative human-robot interface.

    Experimental validation tests have been conducted in healthcare facilities (ASST Grande Ospedale Metropolitano Niguarda) and are currently conducted in sport centers (Centro Sportivo Giuriati, Milano). This work is carried out in the framework of the project BUDD-e, funded by the Politecnico di Milano (in particular by the Polisocial Award 2021, the initiative of the Politecnico di Milano to support research projects focused on social commitment) and by the Italian MUR PRIN 2022 project "Control of Assistive Robots in crowded Environments" (CARE, Id. 20225LX9M3).