Assisted Evacuation & Vehicles Preview

Our Pathfinder developers have been working on the long-awaited assisted evacuation and custom vehicle features that will make more applications possible. Hospitals, nursing homes, and retirement homes all must accommodate people in wheelchairs, rolling beds, walkers, and more. The staff at these facilities are required to assist their patients or residents during evacuation.

However all public areas, offices, and businesses must account for individuals with limited mobility. By enabling new features and customization, Pathfinder will soon be able to provide an additional layer of simulation detail. We expect that it will be standard practice to include wheelchair occupants in nearly all simulations.

In the 2016.2 release, users will be able to define teams of assistants and individuals who need assistance. Pairs or groups of assistants and patients can be specified, or the simulation logic can automatically handle the manner in which everyone is evacuated. There is a new property for Vehicle Shapes which can be assigned to Profiles. Custom vehicles have defined geometry and attachment points for the assistants. We will have more information about the upcoming release as development continues, though no dates have been set and designs are subject to change.