Park, a 30-year-old Korean housewife, recently took a personality test to figure out who she is. “Just like many other people, I don’t exactly know who I am,” she told The Korea Times. “Sometimes I am curious what makes me feel good or bad. I’ve taken several different types of tests to know myself better and the MBTI is one that I tried recently.” In Korea, the MBTI personality test has become the newest trend, particularly among millennials (千禧一代).

MBTI, which stands for Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, is a personality test. People answer a questionnaire based on a personality theory. A Hankook survey taken last December found that over half of Koreans have taken the MBTI test. Nine out of every 10 people aged between 19 and 28 responded they took the test. Meanwhile, for those who had never been involved in the test, three quarters showed strong interest, indicating the personality type test has become a phenomenon for younger generations.

The MBTI craze among the younger generation, who are struggling with an uncertain future, reflects their desire for acceptance and comfort in knowing there are like-minded people out there. “The country has limited resources and geography, while its people feature a certain devotion and goal-oriented (目标导向型的) characteristic,” said Lee Myung-jin, a professor of sociology at Korea University. Consequently, they have grown eager on various personality indicators that provide them comfort.

As MBTI has gone viral among younger Koreans, businesses and media have begun to promote products using the personality test. But such MBTI-based marketing strategies have annoyed some younger people who don’t rely on the results of the test. However, experts agree that the popularity of the test also brings some positive implications. “I believe we’re in a transition period,” Kim Jae hyoung, a head researcher of the Korea MBTI institute said. “This trend could develop a social acceptance and affection for mental guidance in the future.”

About 17 million blind and visually impaired (视力受损的) people live in China, according to a 2018 report. The nation does not have the same history of using guide dogs as exists in other countries.

The first guide dogs were used in 1916, and many countries have a rich culture of working with man’s best friend to help the visually impaired. The cost of specialist training to produce such a reliable animal can add up to tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of US dollars. Dogs also have physical limitations, for example being color blind, causing allergies or sadly having a limited lifespan.

This month, a team led by Zhongyu Li, at the University of Berkeley California, revealed a modern prototype (原型). The new four-legged model is designed to guide people with a lead, and is able to find the right way to avoid obstacles. Laser ranging systems recreate a virtual map of the robot’s surroundings and enable it to guide itself and the person through an environment with ease, even in narrow spaces.

The type of coding needed for the robot to understand its relative position in space, and to account for dangers in a changeable environment, will not be easy or cheap to make it available to the public, especially in a population as large as China.

It may still be far-fetched to imagine robots walking through the busy streets. As AI improves, along with the performance of robots, the dream may be realizable. Coding can be directly copied and put into mass produced units, with hardware also becoming cheaper by the year. Robotic guide dogs of the future will need to calculate routes in real time, accounting for many factors such as traffic density (密度), weather conditions and pedestrian footfall. Fast interconnected 5G networks with low latency and widespread coverage will be vital for this.

The blind and visually impaired are a significant minority of the population, and for many the chance to lead an independent and normal life is often as a stepping stone to greater contributions within China’s economy. Robotics can expand horizons for disabled people and allow them to feel more included in society.