Guide dog - right idea wrong use-case
While a robotic guide dog might be possible at some point in the (near) future a much more achievable objective is to produce a 'dementia dog'.
Something the size of a small dog, made to look cute, with a lead that can be fastened to a dementia patient's wrist. The patient can then 'take the dog for a walk', and it doesn't matter if they get lost or forget to come home because the dog can gently and discreetly steer them away from busy streets and lead them back, either on a recall signal or after a set period of time - an hour's exercise say.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
