McMaster's Young Researchers: AI & Smart Mobility

Research Objectives

To shape the future of mobility with inclusive, sustainable, smart, connected, multimodal, and personalised real-time transportation services.

Motivation

Giving an edge to Cubic and Canada in Artificial Intelligence, transportation systems, logistics market, and bringing greater opportunity and accessibility to its inhabitants.

Method

With resources from the Centre of Excellence: Artificial Intelligence & Smart Mobility — a private/academic partnership between Cubic and McMaster Automotive Resource Center — Hanna plays a lead role in solving the issues of accessibility in transportation.

Hanna has utilised virtual and augmented reality development tools combined with real-world data to design and study the commuter experience. Specialising in computer vision and virtual reality, Hanna has worked on technical projects that interpret the real world and communicate relevant information with commuters in the form of haptics or speech. Special emphasis is placed on delivering helpful information to people with disabilities, such as those with mobility, visual, and hearing impairments.

In addition to computer vision and VR, Hanna is also a human factors scientist, which considers human behaviour and how it might be affected or limited by a technology’s design. Accessibility is a core tenant of the Centre of Excellence: Artificial Intelligence & Smart Mobility programme, and Hanna’s VR projects promote this value.

The VR technology helps smart transportation developers create and test their ideas with accessibility in mind from the start, minimising cost and time. Different scenarios are simulated to test against the needs of individuals of different socioeconomic locations and demographics. Additionally, user testing is made simpler without the need of having subjects on-site and can be customised for specific users.