Influence of simulated ship motion on human-computer interaction at a multi-display workstation

Abstract

Users at computer centred workspaces aboard ships often deal with high information rates from different sources. Those information sources may include various sensor data as well as visual and acoustical input. Therefore, setups with multiple displays and input devices are beneficial. Usually, such workspaces are built and evaluated in static environments, not regarding the influence of realistic ship motion. However, this motion may affect the user in different ways. Externally induced motion may impair motor skills or cognitive skills and possibly will cause motion sickness. The aim of this study is the assessment of a multi-display workstation setup for use on vessels by determining the influence of simulated ship motion on performance of human-computer interaction, focussing on motor skills. For that reason, we built a simulator consisting of a multi-display setup and a motion simulation platform. For this system we designed three realistic ship motion profiles. We expect different motion related impact on motor skills depending on the externally induced motion direction, e.g. wave direction relative to the ship. Therefore, we used motion profiles limited to motion on a single axis to obtain one pitching and one rolling motion. The third motion profile consists of almost no motion which is used as control condition. Additionally, we created simple tasks to investigate the performance of mouse and touch interaction as these types of interaction address motor skills. In a repeated measures design n=18 experts (aged 35,3 ± 6,9 years, 15 male, 3 female) performed tasks under three different motion conditions. The results of a multivariate analysis of variance with repeated measures show a significant impact of motion on mouse interaction time (p < 0,01). Post-test showed differences between pitching and low motion (p < 0,01) as well as pitching and rolling (p = 0,019). For the minimum touch button size, no significant impact was found, but there was a slight indication of motion-related impact (p = 0,051). According to the naval experts the simulated motion is generally realistic, albeit quite uniform. Thus stronger, less uniform motion profiles may intensify motion related performance degradation. Therefore, studies with intensified motion profiles are planed as well as including additional tasks provoking higher mental workload, e.g. by using more complex tasks.

Keywords: Human-computer-interaction, Workspace Evaluation, Motion Simulation, Externally Induced Motion

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1007807