App&Town Compagnon, people with disability can travel independently on public transport
App&Town Compagnon, people with disability can travel independently on public transport
AMPANS and Mass Factory
Foto: Unsplash
The technological company Mass Factory in collaboration with the Foundation AMPANS and the Foundation Saint Pere Claver has developed App&Town Compagnon, a transport-assisted system for people with intellectual disability, mental illness, or memory dysfunctions, that allows them to safely use public transportation, with precise guidance provided by a mobile app, and continuous monitoring by means of a Web App in the cloud. App&Town Compagnon conforms to the Smart City Concept, improvement citizens’ quality of life through use of technology.
App&Town Compagnon is a customized transport assisted system which is adaptable to the abilities of each user. The system includes: route-planning, guidance, and remote monitoring. App&Town Compagnon is a tool that improves social inclusion, mobility, and self-esteem of its users.
In 2018 Apps&Town Compagnon won the Technology Innovation Red Cross Humanitarian Award.
Characteristics of innovation
Location
Bages Region, Barcelona, Madrid (Spain); Laval and Longueuil (Canada)
Partners / Funders
Fundació Sant Pere Claver, Fundació ONCE, STL, Smart Columbus
Genesis
Mass Factory, a spin-off of “Universitat autònoma de Barcelona (UAB)”, was founded in 2012 as a result of project developed by eight Computer Engineering students under the direction of Prof. Jordi Roig. The mobile app which was developed “OnTheBus”, now called “App&Town Going with you”, is the first commercial product of the company.
The original “OnTheBus”, is a free app for Android that allows planning urban routes, either by walking or by bus and has two distinctive characteristics:
- Universal Design that facilitates its use by most of the people
- An extremely precise navigational algorithm which may be used by persons with visual disability
Implementation level
- In Bages Region (Spain) there are 17 intellectually impaired users
- In Barcelona there are more than 50 users that include, intellectually or visually impaired people, people with mental disorders as well as senior citizens with memory deficiencies
- In Madrid there are 10 users with Down syndrome
- In Laval and Longueil, Canada, there are 70 users with intellectual impairment and developmental disorders
Banc d’innovacions
COTI, a social network that facilitates digital communication for people with cognitive impairment
wSocial, a platform that integrates artificial intelligence to improve social services intervention
