Construction of the Kansei Information Database and Development of the Software as a Universal Design Support and Evaluation Tool

2005 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 16500121
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Sensitivity informatics/Soft computing
• Research Institution: Chiba University
• Principal Investigator: AOKI Hiroyuki Chiba University, Faculty of Engineering, Professor, 工学部, 教授 (20009757)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): HOTTA Akihiro Chiba University, Faculty of Engineering, Professor, 工学部, 教授 (20289101) ; WATANABE Makoto Chiba University, Faculty of Engineering, Associate Professor, 工学部, 助教授 (50272349) ; OHARA Yasuhiro Chiba University, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Assistant Professor, 大学院・自然科学研究科, 助手 (60323391)
• Project Period (FY): 2004 – 2005
• Keywords: Universal Design / Kansei Information / Guideline / Checklist / Education

Research Abstract

Universal Design (UD) is recognized as "design benefits people of all ages and abilities". But, to realize the philosophy of UD, the consideration of mental factor (Kansei information) is most important. Then, the Kansei information database and the UD support and evaluation tool that was able to understand the mental factor were investigated.
The Kansei information database and the guideline/checklist of UD were constructed by considering the relationship between evaluation items ; (1)the viewpoint of UD consisted of Article Level, Body Level and Mind Level, and (2)the people's needs consisted of Basic Need, Social Need and Comprehensive Need.
On the other hand, these evaluation items were arranged and integrated by a neural network and genetic algorithmic model ultimately leading to the new development of the UD support and evaluation tool which can quantitatively evaluate the degree of UD present in a given design. By utilizing this tool, the following can be created and achieved ; (1)guideline/checklist, (2)development and refining of the idea, and (3)design unification and directivity.
To verify the effectiveness of this tool, the design ideas were proposed from both viewpoints of Comprehensive Need and Mind Level, and the modification of this tool was repeated. Moreover, by taking up UD in education as a case, the importance of people's mental factor was pointed out.