SBIR Phase I: Mobility Agents for Persons with Cognitive Disabilities

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop Mobility Agents that help persons with cognitive disabilities use public transportation systems and help caregivers customize these agents to serve the specific needs of the travelers. Increasingly, public transportation systems are equipped with GPS (Global Positioning System) systems connected to control centers through dedicated wireless networks. Controllers currently use this infrastructure to efficiently schedule and optimize operations and avoid organizational problems such as bunching. Agentsheets, Inc.'s investigative team will use this existing infrastructure to compute highly personalized information and deliver it on PDAs or cell phones to persons with cognitive disabilities. The research will explore user interface issues of agent-based real-time interfaces on handheld devices and build a prototype to be tested in a real-world setting using the Boulder Colorado bus system as a public transportation system test bed The proffered technology will develop public transportation management tools to provide services for persons with cognitive disabilities and for the elderly.