Autonomy for disabled persons
AUTONOMY is a Rehabilitation Technology software tool that enables disabled
people to control their environment as well as to communicate in an augmentative
and alternative way. In addition this telematic and multimedia means provides
users with support for medical and technical issues.
Abstract : Imagine you're in a city and need some travel
information. You know the information is there, but how do you access it.
Enquiring by telephone might not give you the information needed. From the Web?
But where is the nearest cyber cafe? IMAGE's location-dependent information
service could provide the answer.
IMAGE is an R&D project, part-funded by the European Commission's IST programme
that has developed a service that can provide geographical, or
location-dependent, information. It uses a combination of intelligent software
agents, your current location and route, and your pre-defined preferences to
serve you with the information you need.
The IMAGE system has been developed by a consortium of 15 partners from five
European countries. It provides intelligent and geo-referenced info-mobility
services, or in other words information that matches your personal preferences
and location or route. You can access your information using a variety of
devices, such as a Pocket-PC PDA, mobile phone, or desktop/laptop computer. The
system uses GPS (Global Positioning System) to determine your position at any
instant, and GPRS (Generic Packet Radio Service) to communicate between your
access device and the various information sources.
At the heart of the system is a family of intelligent mobile software agents,"
comments Evagellos Bekiaris, the project coordinator. "The software agents are
computer applications that provide a variety of functions. The agents are
written in the JADE (Java Agent Development framework) and are fully FIPA
compliant (Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents) ."
"The Educator agent, for example, monitors your actions and information
transactions, and builds up your personal profile automatically. Suppose you
travel regularly to attend business meetings. The Educator would observe and
record the fact that you always seem to stay in either 4- or 5-star hotels, and
would add this data to your list of personal preferences. So when you next
request a hotel, the system will produce a list of the appropriate grade of
hotel within your vicinity," says Bekiaris.
"The system, knowing that you follow a particular football team, could alert you
to the fact that your team will be playing in a match that evening," says
Bekiaris. "If you would like to see it, the system could automatically buy the
ticket for you."
Information corridor and 3D images
The project has developed the concept of a corridor, calculated in real-time as
users follow their route. The corridor is used in the process of finding out
information that matches your preferences and current/imminent location.
Alternative routes are pre-calculated within the corridor so that a rapid
response can be provided should the need arise, thus contributing to the
system's user-friendliness. If you have a disability and you're driving your
car, you could ask the system to direct you to the nearest disabled parking
bays.
"We have also developed a 3D image technique, too. We can download a picture
that shows a 360-degree view from your particular viewpoint, with important
features highlighted. In this way, you can see where you are and what you're
looking for. The system has very many practical applications," observes Bekiaris.
User trials
"We have already conducted pre-market studies, and these show a very positive
attitude towards the services we can offer. Acceptance of the service is as high
as 70 per cent in three countries, but we have to verify this with user trials,"
notes Bekiaris.
Pilot trials will take place between June and September in Turin (Italy) and
Tampere (Finland) . We have 50 users at each site from a variety of backgrounds:
general public, elderly, tourists, and people with disabilities, all of whom
will be able to receive personalised mobile information services. The consortium
includes city transport operators who will support the pilot trials.
"We already know how much the service costs to operate," comments Bekiaris, "but
we need to test our business models with real users in the context of local
laws. In Finland, the law states that if you request an automatic transaction
whose value is greater than 1.68, the system must ask you to confirm the
transaction. In Italy, the law states that the value of automatic transactions
conducted through a mobile must not exceed the cost of the phone call. It would
be possible to provide higher value services if users had pre-paid credits or
monthly accounts. The results of the trials will be used to refine our business
models, and will be incorporated into the final report."
Subject Descriptors : Information processing, Information retrieval, Information
transmission
Subject Index Codes : Information Processing, Information Systems
Subject Class : IT, telecommunications
Remarks : Results Entry form
Collaboration Sought : Further research or development support, Information
exchange/Training
Sources of Support : CEC
Programmes : IST
Projects : IST-2000-30047
Project Title : Intelligent Mobility Agent for complex Geographic Environments
Contact Details
Contact Name : BEKIARIS, Evangelos
Contact Organisation : Centre for Research and Technology Hellas
Address : Hellenic Institute of Transport 6th Km Charilaou-Thermi Road
PO Box 361
City : Thermi
Region : VOREIA ELLADA
KENTRIKI MAKEDONIA
Thessaloniki
Postcode : 57001
Country : GREECE
Telephone Number : +30-2310-498265
Electronic Mailbox : abek@certh.gr
