Towards a methodology for human behaviour elicitation: preliminary results

Abstract

Human behaviour knowledge is an important requirement for implementing realistic evacuation models. Although much work has been done in this field of research there are no universally accepted quantitative methods. In this paper we present a novel methodology for human behaviour elicitation that was coined SPEED (Simulation of Pedestrian and Elicitation of their Emergent Dynamics). An experimental setup to test the concept was envisaged and validated by a group of experts using the Delphi method. A test bed was designed using the Serious Games concept and 22 subjects were selected for a pilot test. Preliminary results are promising, showing that this methodology might be used for the elicitation of human behaviour of subjects when facing an emergency. Moreover, the data acquired is of great importance for the fire safety experts designing new buildings or planning strategies to improve emergency paths. Another possible outcome is to create an artificial population based on human behaviour to populate emergency evacuation simulators.