NEW YORK CITY – Machine Learning firm Navigational Dynamics has announced the development of a mobile application, rOuteCD, that can plot the perfect path to navigate the twisting hallways of any museum, an innovation being hailed as a valuable tool for visitors who deal with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
Sufferers of the disorder are hailing the virtues of the new product. “This could really prove to be a game changer,” said Professor of Psychology at NYU Dr. Jianmei Liu. “For OCD sufferers like myself, a visit to a museum is equal parts a joy and a nightmare. On the one hand, you have lots of fascinating paintings and sculptures whose various pattern and intricacies can draw your attention away from your constant anxiety but, on the flip side, you have a lot of ground to cover, and only a few hours in which to look at each object, read its description, look at the object, again, wait three seconds to confirm that the description matched the object, and then move on to the next”.
“Thus,” she continued, “an algorithm that can help you breeze through the marbled halls without accidentally knocking over an apatosaurus when you take one-too-many Ativan, because there are too many visitors for you to walk on only every odd-numbered tile, is a godsend- or a zeussend, or an odinsend, sorry, I’m going to need a minute to get through every name for a supreme being I can think of”.
National Dynamics employee, Neil Randorf of Toronto, who lead development of the app, touted its usefulness. “I love the ROM but, when I’m there, I have so many navigational dilemmas. How do I fit in as much viewing as possible, in the most efficient way? Do I walk around each individual annex exclusively, or do I consider adjoining rooms to be part of a larger grand room and thus traverse through a doorway into the larger hall, continuing my rotational route, thus completing a single rotation of the first annex only after covering the entire floor? It’s exhausting!”.
Neil continued, “One day I had to forgo looking at each mummy in the Egyptian wing from three different angles, just so I could finish my tour at exactly 30 minutes after the hour!”.
“But now,” he said, “I am able to comfortably make my way through an exhibit, while still having plenty of time at the end of said traversal, to glance at each corner of the floor and ceiling, in order to establish that I have taken in every cubic centimetre of space, and not be burdened with the crushing fear that I may have missed something”.
Asked if she had any recommendations for additional features for rOuteCD, Dr. Liu said that it would be some time before she’d be able to give the app a proper assessment, noting “I’m currently serving a six-month ban from The Met, for trying to straighten out the dents in a suit of armour”.
