Enriching the design process: developing a wearable operator's assistant

An interdisciplinary research team from Carnegie Mellon's Human-Computer Interaction Institute (HCII) collaborated with Inmedius Inc. (a CMU spin-off company) and colleagues in Shell Exploration and Production UK (EXPRO) to develop a Wearable Operator's Assistant (WOA) for workers on offshore oil rigs. The assistant is a handheld or wearable computer for technicians to perform daily operations and maintenance tasks on oil rigs under construction in Scotland, and after installation in the North Sea. The WOA project was charted to "empower the technician" making them "a Supertech, the envy of other technicians". This meant offering all resources currently available on paper (forms to do inspections and report problems, job cards, maintenance manuals, equipment histories, notebooks, etc.) through a digital interface, accessible from anywhere, anytime on the platform. A user-centered design approach and scenarios were widely used in the development process and were a successful means for presenting and evaluating ideas. This design process used two additional methods: the integration of flowcharts with the scenarios, and the extensive involvement of the end users throughout the course of the project. A high acceptance rate of the system and positive feedback from the technicians is partly attributed to this design approach. Users' feedback and rough estimates of cost saving associated with the use of the WOA are provided.