User scenario

User scenario 1

Since his wife passed away, Mr. X (age 76) has been adapting his routine completely to the new situation of living alone, after living together for 48 years. Mr. X has a problem with walking, since he had a skiing accident 10 years ago worsening his existing hip injury. This resulted in him not being able to walk for more than a few paces. With age this injury becomes worse and worse. Since the injury he bought an elderly scooter. Which he used in the beginning to go on walks with his wife or to go to his local cards meeting in the community house. This became more and more of a hassle because with age his vision and hearing decreased. He didn’t feel safe controlling the scooter and had a lot of negative feedback from his environment about his driving skills. With his wife’s passing he stopped using the scooter and depends fully on his caretakers and family to ride him around and bring him groceries. Still the need for a “walk” once in a while trough the park or just a nice stroll around town remain.

Luckily a representative of a scooter autonomisation company came to the doors at his elderly housing community. This representative was looking for people who had trouble with walking and would want to test their new autonomous elderly scooter. At first Mr. X was hesitant because he doesn’t know much about technology and wasn’t sure it would be something for him. Never the less the representative left his brochure and business card in case he changed his mind. After thinking it over and another caretaker pushing him around for 5 minutes and saying that she needed to get to the next patient, he decided to give the company a call. The company was still looking for test subjects and assured Mr. X that he would get all the technological guidance he needed.

The scooter arrived a week ago with an engineer to explain to him how the scooter works and what all the failsafe’s and safety option where so that he would be ensured of its safety. The scooter has four wheels for stability with a bulkier shaped chair than other scooter he has seen. It comes with a plug and play chargers which doesn’t require any special outlets which makes it easy to charge. He ran out of groceries and thought this would be a good opportunity to try out the scooter. Getting on to the scooter was easy and the seat was easily adjusted was made it comfortable and relaxing to sit on. Turning on the scooter the screen popped up with his preset settings which he put in the first day with the help of the engineer. Which really helped him seeing he’s not good at the technology part of it. The screen showed him the possibilities in navigation such as to go on a stroll or to get the fastest route possible to the supermarket for example. He selected the option for a fast route to his favorite supermarket since this was his favorite place to get his groceries. The route was calculated and give the estimated time of arrival and showed him an aerial view of his route supplying him with 3 possible routes to pick from. He picked the route with the least roads and therefore more bicycles tracks because he sometimes gets scared by fast cars driving by. With the route entered the scooter set of.

During the drive the scooter adapted its speed to the rest of the traffic which didn’t give the idea of being slow. The display give the option between showing the route or showing the system actively avoiding the obstacles and other traffic. Mr. X choose to be able to see the scooter detect obstacles because he still had a bit of doubt in the scooters ability. This option clearly reassured him that the cyclist approaching him was detected well in advance, and the fence on the side of a bridge crossing was detected perfectly and kept a safe distance from it. Throughout the trip the scooter worked perfectly and got him safely to the supermarket.

At the supermarket he choose to control the scooter himself because he thought it to be easier, but he remembered the engineer explaining to him he could keep the danger detection on just as with the ride to ensure that there would be no collisions. He did this and it made sure he had an idea of his distance between him and other shoppers. His shopping went on without a problem and once he got outside the supermarket he turned the self-driving system back on for his route home.

His choose a different route home because he was getting used to the scooter and wanted to find out wat else it could do. This new route included more sidewalks and roads with cars, he chose this route to test the danger detection and find out how trustworthy it really was. The scooter started driving and the first part of the route was just as uneventful as the route to the supermarket then the scooter came at a point where there were cars next to him a wall to its right and a group of people in front of him. The scouter stopped and displayed that it thought the situation was unsafe. Mr. X was scared but he remembered the engineer telling him this could happen, and that when it happened the scooter would only stop at a position safe from the ongoing traffic. That was exactly what the scooter did. It stopped close to the wall allowing the group of people to pass him and when the people cleared the scooter displayed retaking control and it drove off again. The rest of the route went on without problems.

Arriving back at his apartment he parked the scooter and a caretaker hooked up the charger and helped him take in the groceries. The caretaker was alerted by the scooter that Mr. X was on his way back from the supermarket and give the time left before he would arrive. This made the caretaker’s job a lot easier since he knew exactly when Mr. X would arrive. Mr. X was pleased with himself, he was able to do his own shopping with minimal help of his caretaker. This gave him confidence and the idea for visiting his family which was a longer route, but after his experience today would be a possibility in his opinion.

Scenario (1) problems

• The scooter requires explaining and an engineer helping with the setup

• The scooter has to be able to calculate a route and display options with different paths so a preferable route can be chosen.

• the scooter has to be able to detect different types of traffic

• the scooter has to know the traffic rules it and the other traffic has to abide by

• the scooter needs to have a failsafe in case of an traffic problem

• the display needs to be able to show the danger avoiding in action

• the seating on the scooter needs to be adjustable to the users own preference

• the scooter needs to know the difference between stationary and moving objects

Scenario (1) requirements

• the scooter must have sensors with the ability to detect the other traffic and environment

• • • • • • ability to detect cars
          • ability to detect bicycles
          • ability to detect walkers
          • detecting the road or bike path
          • detecting obstacles such as walls, fences etc.
          • ability to differentiate between moving and stationary objects

• the scooter must be easily explained by an engineer

• • • • • • users friendly interface
          • ability to set preferences for each user
          • experienced engineers with knowledge about the scooter
          • an easy help interface for any question while using the scooter

• the scooter must be able to calculate a route and give different options

• • • • • • route calculation software
          • ability to give different route options
          • differentiate between types of routes
          • displaying the travelling scooter in real-time

• easy use for the caretaker

• • • • • • plug and play charger
          • informing the caretaker about the arrival time of his patient
          • informing the caretaker about the whereabouts of his patient

• a failsafe in case of a problem

• • • • • • clearly display the problem
          • supply the option for self-control
          • know the current traffic rules
          • show the user the steppes that are being taken

• showing the scooter actively avoiding obstacles

• • • • • • displaying the detection of obstacles real-time
          • displaying it in an easy to understand display

• adjustable seating for the user

• • • • • • height adjustable chair
          • adjustable side braces
          • adjustable chair angle
          • ergonomic design soothed for different users