CU Jul-Aug 2020

SOFTWAREfocus
Motion control
Oasys has added social distancing to the capabilities of the agents of its pedestrian simulation
application MassMotion, making it much easier for organisations to conduct proximity analyses
The social habits of a lifetime are
disintegrating as we learn how to
weather and survive the
coronavirus pandemic. As it appears
that the Covid-19 virus is mainly
contracted by aerosol transmission
from the mouth, the natural means of
mitigating its effect is through face
masks and social distancing.
Face masks have long been seen as
acceptable in many Asian countries, but
in the west there are problems of
acceptable freedoms and
embarrassment to overcome. Allied with
a measure of social distancing, though,
where both practices have been carried
out, the severity of the pandemic has
declined. In contrast, exemplified by the
overcrowded conditions of the garment
factories in Leicester and the lack of
personal protection for the workers, the
pandemic has run rife.
We may be inching towards the end of
this outbreak but are fearful of another
wave succeeding the first. Lessons
being learned need to be acted on now
and for the future, and companies
wishing to provide greater safety for
their staff, or organisations which see
substantial footfall through their
premises, need a tool that allows them
to plan office layouts for a general
return to work, or to maximise the
throughput of their premises with
effective pedestrian corridors.
Oasys MassMotion has been used by
many organisations to help the design
and layout of pedestrian intensive
buildings, stations and venues, using
intelligent 'agents' that can respond in
real-time to building layouts and the
actions of other agents, so it was
perhaps inevitable that Oasys would
also turn their attention to a further
constraint - namely the imposition of
social distancing.
The UK Government is urging people
to return to working in offices - although
many of us, having had to work from
home, have now discovered its benefits,
in that you can still be productive
without the hassle of long and
expensive commutes into the city. This
actually assists large city-based offices
in accommodating fewer staff more
safely, and allows transport companies
to encourage smaller numbers of
expected passengers to use socially
distanced channels. It also helps them
to plan to ramp up to higher occupancy
and throughput as the general
populations natural fears decline.
OASYS MASSMOTION
Oasys MassMotion uses the BIM
capabilities of a 3D building model - for
example of an airport, station, stadium
as or office block - to simulate the
throughput of pedestrians during any
type of scenario, from boarding a train
to escaping from a hazardous event.
Individual pedestrian agents, which are
given tasks to perform such as moving
from entrance A to Exit B, are
programmed to recognise the
behaviour of other agents and respond
to the possible actions of those whose
path will interact with theirs.
Now that we are all being asked to
accommodate new or future social
distancing rules, Oasys MassMotion
provides organisations with a highly
focused set of tools that can produce
detailed comparisons of different office
schemes or pedestrian guidelines.
Architects who are already using the
software will be delighted to discover
that they can use it to comply with both
capacity rules and the government's
safety guidelines.
12
July/August 2020