HADRIAN meets AUNT-SUE

Abstract

HADRIAN is a computer aided design tool, developed to support designers in their efforts to ‘design for all’. Combining a database of individuals together with a task analysis tool HADRIAN provides a virtual group of 100 people, ready to perform a user trial at any point throughout a product’s design. Developed initially to predict design inclusion for localised design problems such as those experienced in a kitchen environment, HADRIAN is now being developed to include transport data as part of the AUNT-SUE project. AUNT-SUE is a transport related project that is funded as part of the EPSRC’s Sustainable Urban Environment programme. The project addresses policy making through to design and implementation in its aims to support effective socially inclusive design and operation of transport systems. Part of the AUNT-SUE project addresses exclusion faced by people whilst making a typical journey including: the inability to access adequate route-finding and timetabling information, problems accessing transport infrastructure (bus/tram stops, cycle routes, railway stations etc.), getting on and off transport, and managing interchanges between different transport types. This paper discusses the development of the relationship between HADRIAN and AUNTSUE. Initial work focuses on additional data for the database covering transport related tasks. Later work will focus on improving the task analysis capability of HADRIAN whilst integrating the transport related functionality. Ultimately the project also provides the opportunity to further develop HADRIAN towards the needs of designers developing products that maximise social inclusion.