CaBot

A research project begun in 2017 at Carnegie Mellon University that developed a suitcase-shaped autonomous navigation robot to guide blind and low-vision travellers through indoor public spaces. CaBot pioneered the "grip-the-handle-and-walk" interaction pattern, combining LiDAR, RGB-D cameras, and BLE/UWB localisation with a smartphone app for destination selection. It is the research-prototype predecessor of IBM's AI Suitcase, and its technical and interaction design influenced the broader wave of suitcase-shaped assistive navigation robots (for example, PathFinder, NavCog3, and group-tour variants). Accessibility practitioners will see CaBot cited as the baseline design in most suitcase-robot research after 2019.