Last October, Dr. Hussein Abdullah, a professor in the University of Guelph’s Engineering program, shared the new app he and his team developed to open doors on our U of G campus with just one tap on your phone. Now, just over a year later, Abdullah and his team have returned to announce the installation of the OpenWay Smart Door Access System app in three locations on campus: 159 Albert A. Thornbrough North Door Entrance,142 Rozanski North Door Entrance, and 180 East Residence Dundas Main Entrance.
Abdullah created this app, OpenWay, alongside Zeyad Ghulam, an MASc graduate student from the Robotics Institute Lab, and a team of students and interns. This team’s goal was to improve building accessibility for people who struggle with pushing buttons or moving through the door entrance before it closes.
The team is excited at the possibility of their design improving the quality of people’s lives. Abdullah explains that he believes helping people is the most important aspect of engineering research: “Engineers study math and graphics and design, but the human aspect is so important.”
As this team continues to improve their app, they’ve asked for the help of University of Guelph faculty, staff, and students to identify how the app could be improved. If you’re interested in providing feedback, please visit the research study sign-up page to register and learn how to download the app. Following the trial period for OpenWay, an online survey will be sent to participants to gather feedback.
We look forward to seeing how OpenWay improves building access on campus, and what further innovations come out of U of G’s College of Engineering! For more information, read the full article in the U of G Insider.
