Enabling older users to confidently and safely use public transport, and providing a safety net when route mishaps happen, is the goal of the ASSISTANT project. The main target group of ASSISTANT is mobile older people, particularly when they are travelling to novel places or beginning to use public transport, or after stopping driving.
The system will be developed with primary end-users’ involvement and iteratively evaluated with three different public transport systems in Vienna, San Sebastian and Paris. Both the concepts and the low fi prototypes will be re-designed after each feedback cycle until the product achieves the defined goals from end-users’ perspective.
Key to ASSISTANT’s simple success is the use of well-tested and robust technologies, (i.e. the PC, smart phone and GPS), combined with customisable user interfaces and consideration of unexpected events and their consequences. The ASSISTANT product will be ready to market after completion of the project.
Objectives
One of the requirements for successful and independent ageing is to be engaged in the world and the mobility of older people is the first step for this. The ASSISTANT project will aid them in using public transport anywhere (rural/urban) and provide a simple yet effective safety line for them. The single most effective feedback of the ASSISTANT system is to remind the user when to exit the bus/metro or change direction, a very critical yet to-date unsupported feedback element in travelling which allows the user to enjoy the time of journey without constantly checking the progress of the vehicle.
Expected results and impact
The most important result will be bringing a product to market. There are two tracks for this: 1) taking ASSISTANT directly from the project to a commercial offering, and 2) incorporating the ASSISTANT results into an existing commercial offering. Supporting these two ends, ASSISTANT will be standards based, and documented (including design rationale) so that the results of ASSISTANT can be used with a minimum of overhead. Partners will also undertake dissemination activities locally. Additionally, the project will pursue scientific dissemination of results via academic and industrial communities.
Partners
Partners involved in the ASSISTANT project
- Project name: Aiding SuStainable Independent Senior TrAvellers to Navigate in Towns – ASSISTANT
- Website: http://aal-assistant.eu
- Coordinator: Fundación Tecnalia, Spain
- Duration: 36 Months
- Starting Date: 01.06.2012
- Total budget: €2.666.015
- Public contribution: €1.410.848
Contact
Stefan Carmien
E.: stefan.carmien@tecnlia.com
T.: (+34) 667 119 685
