How a University of Guelph app is opening doors – literally

An app developed at the University of Guelph (U of G) is aimed at making accessible doors more accessible.

"We created what we call the Smart Door Access System," said Hussein Abdullah, a professor at U of G's School of Engineering.

The device can be integrated into any pre-existing accessible door and functions through Bluetooth and an app called OpenWay.

With a simple tap or a voice command, researchers are opening doors to accessibility, by eliminating the need to press a button on the wall.

"If it's placed just near the door on the same wall, it's very hard to go and press on the button and then make sure that you have enough time to go through the door," said Zeyad Ghulam, a master's candidate who helped create the app.

In the app, it saves previous doors people have used and allows people to customize how long a door stays open if they need more time to get through.

"It can be changed to up to a minute," said Ghulam, showing how it works. "And you won't be worried about damaging your wheelchair or playing a game of catch up to go through and clear the way."

An added benefit is it could limit the spread of germs too, without needing to directly touch doors.

"We can use it in any place that there is a need to eliminate the physical contact between the user – that could be in hospitals or in home care," said Abdullah, as an example.

The system is already installed on a door at the School of Engineering building, but it's also being used as a pilot project in the City of Collingwood.

"So far we have a couple of devices in Collingwood, the Collingwood Town Hall, as well as [the doors] in the library," said Abdullah.

The hope is to eventually have enough of these systems installed for it to warrant a map within the app to show all the doors that are compatible nearby.

Given the app is still in its infancy, the team of researchers are not closing the door on any possible space, or place, it could help improve.

Learn more about the project here. 

Ghulam said anyone with questions or wishing to connect can do so here.