Technological Advancement for Vehicles Operable by the Visually Impaired

This senior project aims to provide blind persons with the ability to effectively experience driving. This report includes the project background, literature review, designs, methodologies, results, and conclusions with project management, human factors engineering, and electronic manufacturing focuses. Other universities and professionals have accepted the Blind Driver Challenge presented by the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) or studied systems to improve vehicle feedback. The Virginia Tech vehicle, named Odin , includes tactile and audio interfaces in order to relay information to a blind driver about vehicle heading and speed. The QFD results reveal that the amount of available information from the feedback systems ranks the most important aspect of this project\u27s designs. The QFD slso shows the importance of both speed and acceleration. The final feedback designs of the vibrating vest, steering wheel, and audio provide commands, statuses, and speed updates. The programs packaged with the SICK LIDAR sensor as well as LabVIEW will serve to accomplish the necessary programming. This project contains two expensive items that push its total cost fairly high, the dune buggy and the laser scanner. Considering the over 1000 feet of electrical wire, electrical safety signifies a very large safety concern. Innovative sensor and tactile feedback technology provide the backbone for this advancement for the visually impaired

Bioinspired Electronic White Cane Implementation Based on a LIDAR, a Tri-Axial Accelerometer and a Tactile Belt

This work proposes the creation of a bioinspired electronic white cane for blind people using the whiskers principle for short-range navigation and exploration. Whiskers are coarse hairs of an animal's face that tells the animal that it has touched something using the nerves of the skin. In this work the raw data acquired from a low-size terrestrial LIDAR and a tri-axial accelerometer is converted into tactile information using several electromagnetic devices configured as a tactile belt. The LIDAR and the accelerometer are attached to the user’s forearm and connected with a wire to the control unit placed on the belt. Early validation experiments carried out in the laboratory are promising in terms of usability and description of the environment

from Issue Investigation to Design Solutions

학위논문(박사) -- 서울대학교대학원 : 공과대학 산업공학과, 2021.8. 윤명환.가전제품을 포함한 현대 기술은 사용자의 삶에 혜택을 제공하지만 제조업체와 설계자의 접근성 지원 부족으로 인해 장애인 및 고령 사용자는 그 혜택으로부터 소외되었다. 여러 신 기능의 개발 및 발전은 비장애인 사용자의 삶의 질을 풍요롭게 한 것과는 반대로 이러한 기능들은 복잡도가 상향되어 장애인 및 고령 사용자의 접근성과 독립적 사용을 저해하고 이내 사용자 경험을 저하시켰을 뿐이다. 이와 같이 접근성 지원이 필요한 상용자의 사용자 경험을 수집하는 것은 생각보다 번거로운 일이다. 대상 사용자들은 민감한 개인정보상의 이유로 사용자 경험 제공을 꺼릴 수도 있고, 인터뷰나 설문조사를 수행하기에 적합한 조건이 아닐 수도 있으며, 더 나아가 소통에 어려움이 있을 수도 있다. 이와 같은 문제는 제조업체나 설계자와 같은 이해당사자와 대상 사용자 간에 장벽을 만들고, 이러한 장벽은 사용자들이 일상 제품을 사용하며 겪게 되는 문제를 온전히 이해하고 정의하는 것을 어렵게 만들어 공감의 형성이 불가능해진다. 이해당사자들은 장애가 있다는 것, 고령이 된다는 것을 경험해 보지 못 했기 때문에 그들의 사용자 경험을 잘못 해석할 수 있고, 이러한 공감의 부족은 장애인 및 고령 사용자에 대한 편견과 오해로 이어진다. 결국, 접근 가능한 제품 개발을 목표로 하는 제조사나 설계자가 이들의 불편사항 및 요구를 인지한다 해도 대상 사용자의 이러한 문제를 해결하기는 어렵거나 심지어 불가능하기도 하다. 이러한 문제로, 본 연구의 3장에서는 인터뷰와 관찰 데이터를 기반으로 가전제품 사용 맥락에 따른 네 가지 사용자 유형에 대한 여덟 종류의 퍼소나를 개발하였다. 시각장애(전맹, 저시력), 청각장애(농아, 인공 와우), 척수장애(주먹 쥔 손, 펴진 손), 고령자(할머니, 할아버지) 퍼소나는 각각 퍼소나 카드의 시나리오와 같은 형식으로 접근성 이슈를 제공하여 실 사용자와 면대면으로 만나기 어려운 이해당사자로 하여금 대상 사용자의 접근성 이슈를 파악하고 공감할 수 있도록 하는 것을 목표로 한다. 또한, 이해당사자들은 사용자 인터랙션 관점에서 장애인 및 고령 사용자의 다른 행태를 파악하고 이해할 도구가 필요하다. 본 연구의 4장에서는 위계적 작업분석(Hierarchical Task Analysis; HTA)을 수행하여 가전제품 사용 시 시간 순서에 따른 일반적 작업 구조를 제시하여 사용자의 작업 행태를 시각화 하였다. 이 구조와 함께 서블릭(Therblig)을 통해 사용자의 작업을 미시적으로 표현하였다. 서블릭은 가전제품 맥락에 맞도록 재정의하고 사용자군 별로 문제가 있는 서블릭이 파악된 경우 동작경제 원칙에 의한 설계 가이드에 따라 개선안을 제시하도록 하였다. 동작경제원칙은 사용자의 작업측면에서의 문제점과 설계측면에서의 해결안을 연관 지어 해석하는 짐을 덜어주는 역할을 해, 제안하는 접근성 도구는 접근성 평가 도구로서 큰 가치를 가진다. 마지막으로 본 연구의 5장에서는 기존 표준과 가이드라인을 수집해 설계 가이드라인을 개발하였다. 기존 표준 및 가이드라인은 여러 수치를 제공하고는 있지만 장애인 및 고령 사용자의 사용 맥락을 충분히 반영하지 못 하고 사용자의 신체 능력, 환경, 제품의 형태에 따라 적용이 어려워 실제적 활용도가 낮은 문제가 있다. 또한 접근성과 인간공학적 전문성이 부족할수록 실 적용이 어려워져 이러한 문서의 가치는 더욱 낮아질 수밖에 없다. 이에 장애인과 고령자의 사용 맥락을 반영해 가이드라인을 재정립하고 이를 기반으로 총 일곱가지의 프로토타입을 개발하였다. 총 14명의 참가자가 프로토타입을 평가하여 대상 가전제품의 접근성 향상 여부를 평가하였다. 대부분의 프로토타입은 성공적으로 접근성에 향상을 보여 설계 가이드라인의 유효성 또한 반증하였다. 또한, 본 논문에서 사용된 절차를 따라 접근성 보장 제품 설계 시 각 가이드라인의 수치를 어떤 식으로 설계에 적용하는지를 참고할 수도 있다. 본 논문의 의의는 다음과 같다. 첫 째, 본 논문은 시각장애, 청각장애, 척수장애인을 대상으로 사용자 조사를 진행하고 이를 기반으로 사용자들의 접근성 이슈를 퍼소나 형식으로 구체화하여 이해당사자가 대상 사용자와 보다 쉽게 공감할 수 있도록 하였다. 둘째, 본 논문은 접근성 연구분야에서 부족한 접근성 평가 도구를 제안하여 접근성 연구의 연구장벽을 낮추는데 기여하였다. 마지막으로 실제 접근성 향상 제품을 개발을 위한 가이드라인과 이를 기반으로 제작된 프로토타입을 실제 사용자들이 평가하도록 해 가이드라인의 실효성을 검증하였다. 전반적으로, 본 연구는 접근성 문제의 장벽을 돌파하기 위해 전반적인 제품 개발 프로세스를 적용하였으며 유니버설 디자인 관점에서 접근성 문제 해결을 위한 일련의 새로운 접근 방식으로 제안하여 사용자가 본인의 장애나 연령과 상관없이 제품 – 특히 가전제품 – 을 자유롭고 안전하게 사용하도록 하였다.Modern-day technologies - including home appliances - deliver benefits to our lives yet the lack of accessibility supports from the manufacturers and designers have forsaken a considerable number of elderly and disabled people. Unlike how the development and advancement with a variety of new functions and features enriched the quality of life for non-disabled users, it only degraded the user experience for the elderlies and disabled users since such functions and features come along with the increased complexity, which hinders not only the accessible use but also the independent use of a disabled or elderly user. Collecting user experience from the users in need of accessibility support is much more troublesome than one might think. The users may be reluctant to provide their user experience for sensitive privacy reasons, may not be in the appropriate physical conditions for interviews or surveys, or even have communication problems. Such barriers between the stakeholder and the target users do not allow the stakeholders to fully understand and define the problems these users confront every day; simply, impossible to build empathy. The lack of empathy breeds misconceptions on the elderly and disabled users, created by misinterpretation of the users’ experiences since the stakeholders have never experienced what it is like to be a disabled or elderly user. Even if manufacturers and designers who oversee developing accessible products recognize the needs and frustrations of the disabled population, it is challenging or even inaccessible for them to address these issues of their target customers. In Chapter 3, based on the interview and observation data, this study developed eight personas for four different types of disabled users under the context of home appliance usage: visually impaired (blind and low-vision), hearing impaired (deaf and cochlear implemented), spinal cord injured (opened palm and closed fist), and elderly (grandma and grandpa). Each persona provides their accessibility issues through a persona card and scenario-like explanation. Personas created in this study will help manufacturers and designers empathize with their users although they did not meet the real users face-to-face. Moreover, stakeholders need a tool to investigate how their users in need of accessibility support behave differently from non-disabled users, which provides a deeper understanding of the users’ perspectives in terms of “interaction.” In Chapter 4, this study conducted Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA) and created general task structures of home appliances based on their product compartment and chronological usage phase. This task structure visualizes the user behavior. Combined with the task structure, therbligs expressed the user task on a micro-scale. Therbligs were redefined to fit the home appliance context and, if found problematic, there was the principle of motion economy to provide design guidance to solve the problems of corresponding therbligs. Moreover, the principle of motion economy is valuable because it reduces the burden of a researcher to convert a task-oriented problem found in terms of user behavior into a design-oriented solution. Lastly, in Chapter 5, a design guideline is developed by collecting existing standards and guidelines. Existing standards and documents related to accessibility lack a detailed explanation of real-world application, although the documentations provide various numerical values related to designs. The numbers are not directly implementable since the context-of-use of elderly or disabled users may vary by their capability, environment, and basically by the form factor of the products they use. Lower the expertise in ergonomics and accessibility less valuable the standards and guidelines will be to implement in a product design. With the design guideline developed and ideas collected from an ideation workshop, a total of seven prototypes were built. A total of 14 participants evaluated the prototype whether it enhanced the accessibility of target home appliances or not. As a result, most prototypes successfully improved the accessibility and approved the validity of design guidelines. This procedure as a case study will provide how to implement the principles and dimensional values found in the existing standards and guidelines when developing an accessible product. Overall, this study applied a whole product development cycle to breakthrough the barriers of accessibility problems and proposes it as a set of novel approaches for accessibility issues resolution based on the perspectives of universal design so that a user can freely and safely use their products – especially home appliances – regardless of their disability or age.Chapter 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Accessibility Barriers 1 1.1.1 Barriers for Users 1 1.1.2 Barriers for Stakeholders 3 1.2 Research Objectives and Study Outline 12 Chapter 2 Background 15 2.1 Target Users and Products 15 2.1.1 Target Users 15 2.1.2 Target Home Appliances and Compartments 19 2.2 Definition of Accessibility 29 2.3 Design Approach 33 2.3.1 Accessible and Universal Design 33 Chapter 3 Persona to Investigate the Accessibility Issues of Disabled and Elderly Users Under the Context of Home Appliances Usage 35 3.1 Overview 35 3.2 Methods 38 3.2.1 User Data Collection 38 3.2.2 Data Analysis for Personas 42 3.2.3 Persona Creation for Identifying Accessibility Issue 45 3.3 Persona Development 48 3.3.1 User Behaviors and Characteristics 48 3.3.2 Created Personas 53 3.4 Results and Discussion 59 3.4.1 Behaviors and Characteristics of Personas 60 3.4.2 Accessibility Issues from Personas 67 3.5 Probable Applications and Future Studies 77 Chapter 4 TAT: Therbligs as Accessibility Tool 82 4.1 Overview 82 4.1.1 Task Analysis 84 4.1.2 Therbligs and Motion Studies 86 4.1.3 Redefining Therbligs 89 4.1.4 Changes in the Principles of Motion Economy 95 4.2 Methods 102 4.2.1 Therblig-based Task Analysis 103 4.2.2 Task Evaluation 107 4.3 Results 109 4.3.1 General Task Structures 109 4.3.2 Accessibility Evaluation Results 116 4.4 Discussions 122 4.4.1 Problematic Therbligs and Related Principles of Motion Economy for Improvements 125 4.4.2 The Final Set of Therbligs for Accessibility Evaluation 133 4.4.3 New Task Design for Disabled and Elderly Users 139 4.5 Conclusion 142 Chapter 5 Accessible Home Appliance Designs : Prototyping and Design Guidelines 145 5.1 Overview 145 5.2 Ideation for accessible home appliances 148 5.2.1 Ideation Workshop 148 5.2.2 Ideation Result 153 5.3 Development of Design Guidelines and Prototypes 156 5.3.1 Design Guideline Principles 161 5.3.2 Prototyping 173 5.4 Experiment for validation 186 5.4.1 Evaluation Results 188 5.5 Discussion 197 5.6 Conclusion 201 Chapter 6 Conclusion 203 Bibliography 206 국문 초록 222 감사의 글 225 Acknowledgment 226 APPENDICES 227박

Mind the Gap: Developments in Autonomous Driving Research and the Sustainability Challenge

Scientific knowledge on autonomous-driving technology is expanding at a faster-than-ever pace. As a result, the likelihood of incurring information overload is particularly notable for researchers, who can struggle to overcome the gap between information processing requirements and information processing capacity. We address this issue by adopting a multi-granulation approach to latent knowledge discovery and synthesis in large-scale research domains. The proposed methodology combines citation-based community detection methods and topic modeling techniques to give a concise but comprehensive overview of how the autonomous vehicle (AV) research field is conceptually structured. Thirteen core thematic areas are extracted and presented by mining the large data-rich environments resulting from 50 years of AV research. The analysis demonstrates that this research field is strongly oriented towards examining the technological developments needed to enable the widespread rollout of AVs, whereas it largely overlooks the wide-ranging sustainability implications of this sociotechnical transition. On account of these findings, we call for a broader engagement of AV researchers with the sustainability concept and we invite them to increase their commitment to conducting systematic investigations into the sustainability of AV deployment. Sustainability research is urgently required to produce an evidence-based understanding of what new sociotechnical arrangements are needed to ensure that the systemic technological change introduced by AV-based transport systems can fulfill societal functions while meeting the urgent need for more sustainable transport solutions

Solar power satellite. System definition study. Part 1, volume 4: SPS transportation system requirements

The best estimates of space transportation requirements for cargo launch vehicles, personnel launch carriers, high thrust orbit transfer, and electric orbit transfer systems are discussed, along with the rationale for each

Análise bibliométrica da produção científica sobre segurança de veículos autônomos.

Resumo: Os veículos autônomos (VAs), como parte importante do sistema inteligente de transporte, têm atraído a atenção de pesquisadores durante as últimas décadas. Um dos assuntos mais recorrentes sobre VAs busca verificar aspectos relacionados à segurança da tecnologia, para que sua implantação no mercado seja viável e aplicada em larga escala. Este artigo apresenta uma análise bibliométrica das pesquisas sobre o assunto, realizada na base de dados Web of Science, para identificar suas principais características, evolução e potenciais tendências. Os estudos focados na segurança sobre os VAs continuam em expansão e são publicados em periódicos renomados, principalmente nas áreas de tecnologia da ciência do transporte e engenharia elétrica e eletrônica, e podem ser divididos entre aqueles que buscam melhorar o desempenho dos sistemas responsáveis por responder adequadamente a um possível acidente de tráfego ou a ataque cibernético. Quanto aos acidentes, os artigos mais relevantes sobre o assunto indicam que é importante que o VA seja capaz de conduzir com habilidade e segurança em ambientes incertos, minimizando riscos potenciais. Quanto aos possíveis ataques cibernéticos, é importante que o VA tenha redundância suficiente em qualquer fonte de entrada, para permitir proteção eficiente contra possíveis ataques. Essas ações servem para aumentar a aceitação dos potenciais usuários e para tornar a tecnologia viável para comercialização. Abstract: As an important part of the intelligent transport system, the autonomous vehicles (AVs) have attracted the attention of researchers during the last decades. One of the most recurring topics about AVs is to verify their technology safety aspects, to guarantee that their market deployment is feasible and widely applied. This paper presents a bibliometric analysis of the researches on the subject, from the Web of Science database, to identify their main characteristics, evolution, and potential trends. Safety-focused studies on AV continue to expand and are published in renowned journals, mainly in the areas of transport science technology and electrical and electronic engineering, and can be divided into those that seek to improve the performance of systems responsible for responding appropriately to an accident, or to a cyberattack. As to accidents, the most relevant articles on the subject indicate that it is important that the AV is able to drive skillfully and safely in uncertain environments, minimizing potential risks. As to possible cyberattacks, it is important that the AV has sufficient redundancy in any input source, to allow of an efficient protection against possible attacks. These actions serve to increase the acceptance of potential users and to make the technology viable for commercialization.Título em inglês: Bibliometric analysis of the scientific production on autonomous vehicle safety

Teleoperation of Highly Automated Vehicles in Public Transport: User-Centered Design of a Human-Machine Interface for Remote-Operation and Its Expert Usability Evaluation

Paving the way to future mobility, teleoperation of vehicles promises a reachable solution to effectively use the benefits of automated driving as long as fully automated vehicles (SAE 5) are not entirely feasible. Safety and reliability are assured by a human operator who remotely observes the vehicle and takes over control in cases of disturbances that exceed the vehicle automation’s skills. In order to integrate the vehicle’s automation and human remote-operation, we developed a novel user-centered human-machine interface (HMI) for teleoperation. It is tailored to the remote-operation of a highly automated shuttle (SAE 4) by a public transport control center and based on a systematic analysis of scenarios, of which detailed requirements were derived. Subsequently, a paper-pencil prototype was generated and refined until a click-dummy emerged. This click-dummy was evaluated by twelve control center professionals. The experts were presented the prototype in regular mode and were then asked to solve three scenarios with disturbances in the system. Using structured interview and questionnaire methodology, the prototype was evaluated regarding its usability, situation awareness, acceptance, and perceived workload. Results support our HMI design for teleoperation of a highly automated shuttle, especially regarding usability, acceptance, and workload. Participant ratings and comments indicated particularly high satisfaction with the interaction design to resolve disturbances and the presentation of camera images. Participants’ feedbacks provide valuable information for a refined HMI design as well as for further research

NASA technology applications team: Applications of aerospace technology

Two critical aspects of the Applications Engineering Program were especially successful: commercializing products of Application Projects; and leveraging NASA funds for projects by developing cofunding from industry and other agencies. Results are presented in the following areas: the excimer laser was commercialized for clearing plaque in the arteries of patients with coronary artery disease; the ultrasound burn depth analysis technology is to be licensed and commercialized; a phased commercialization plan was submitted to NASA for the intracranial pressure monitor; the Flexible Agricultural Robotics Manipulator System (FARMS) is making progress in the development of sensors and a customized end effector for a roboticized greenhouse operation; a dual robot are controller was improved; a multisensor urodynamic pressure catherer was successful in clinical tests; commercial applications were examined for diamond like carbon coatings; further work was done on the multichannel flow cytometer; progress on the liquid airpack for fire fighters; a wind energy conversion device was tested in a low speed wind tunnel; and the Space Shuttle Thermal Protection System was reviewed

On the Symbiosis of People and Building:The Perfect Slum

Controversies continue to exist between architects and the public about what is a good building. High-style modern architecture is often disliked by the public. Moreover, in everyday life people blame the architect for everything they find impractical in a building. The non-operable window is emblematic of this controversy. The kernel of the problem lies in the lack of knowledge about how people relate to their buildings. This thesis investigates the relationship between people and their buildings, a topic that lies on the interface of architecture, psychology, and anthropology. In architecture, many have attempted to create buildings that feel alive, although much of what is built today feels alien to those who inhabit it. Environmental psychology has its focus on perception and meaning, whereas in anthropology, the habitat is often observed in a cultural perspective. This thesis aims at building theory that connects the insights of these disciplines. The importance of the topic lies in the increasing alienation of people from their buildings. Although many architects work on buildings that we can better relate to, alienation and disconnection continue to exist because, to mention one aspect, the built environment is made by more people than only architects. In the multidisciplinary world, improvement of the relationship of people and building would surely benefit from the introduction of a clear focal point and an adequate conceptual framework. From literature, insights were collected that explain the relationship in four perspectives: human aspects, properties of buildings, its relation to society, and abstract systems. Together they form a model that can serve as the focal point. Next, in order to identify what is changing in the relationship, the model was used as research tool in different contexts, ranging from vernacular to modern. Fieldwork research was conducted in traditional habitats, state-of-the-art modern buildings, and settings in between: primitive housing in urban slum or informal settlement. Detailed research methods for the survey of people's interaction with buildings were newly developed in the field and combined with existing sampling and coding techniques. Architects tools like sketches, scale models, and photography were used next to interviews and participatory observation. Results are presented in several reports ranging from slum dwellings to hi-tech. Besides architecture, they describe the practice of everyday life, logic and inconsistencies in building methods, and effects on the people-building relationship. From the findings, we concluded that what happened to the people-building relationship in the transition from vernacular to modern could be described in five trends. These trends explain the current disconnection as well as the difficulties we face in creating live buildings. Thus, together with the focal point, a conceptual framework is created holding the patterns typical of the people-building relationship. This knowledge can be used as both tool and theory by the profession. The research suggests that in order to create a strong people-building relationship, the whole process of building, dwelling, and daily operation must be focused on inclusion of the end-user. Today's technology and regulations favor exclusion and therefore contribute to a built environment that is not humanly sustainable