Carleton University Deploys Contactless Elevator Access

Carleton University (Canada), recently deployed a contactless app to control an elevator at one of the oldest buildings on campus, Paterson Hall. The app is a significant contribution to Carleton’s vision of accessible design and a more inclusive world. Not only does it offer an solution for students like Hollis Pierce, who has muscular dystrophy and was earlier unable to reach the elevator buttons, but it also enables a safe, sanitary way of moving around the building during COVID. The project began in early 2018, when local accessibility tech company, ProtoDev Canada was contracted for a solution. In December 2019, the company piloted the “Contactless Access module”, a small 10-inch plug and play piece of hardware that can be integrated with the elevator’s buttons or the automatic door operator, and takes less than an hour to install. The app runs without WiFi to avoid nefarious attacks. When users approach an elevator, the app shows them “available buttons” such as up or down, and they can then select their floor of choice. “This collaborative, interdisciplinary effort is a good example of Carleton’s work on accessibility,” said Professor Adrian Chan, who chairs Carleton’s READ (Research, Education, Accessibility and Design) Initiative advisory board. Given the success of this prototype, the university plans to deploy five new Contactless Access elevators across campus, and other customers such as the Toronto Pearson Airport, are installing their pilots. [Source: Joseph Mathieu via Carleton Newsroom]