Future Bridge Wing Workstation - An Ergonomic Approach to the Development of a Ship Bridge Wing's Workstation

Abstract

This master s thesis originates from initial work during the summer of 2015. At the research facility TrollLabs at NTNU assigned by Kongsberg Maritime, a division of Kongsberg Gruppen, an international technological corporation. The shipping industry is one of the world s most important trading businesses, carrying the majority of international trade items. The recreational part of shipping, such as cruises, is also a popular way to spend the holidays for many passengers across the world. A huge responsibility is resting on captains to safely navigate the ship in every condition. The design of typical workstations of the ship s integrated systems has seen very little development through the decades. During particular manoeuvres such as docking and undocking, the helmsman often find himself in awkward positions with limited access to control devices and necessary view due to poorly designed workstations. This thesis is the result of a work during the spring of 2016, which lays a foundation for a re-design of workstations at the bridge wing of the ship. Using the tools and mind-set of Design Thinking and Wayfaring along with the science of ergonomics, I have gathered knowledge and presented ideas for a user-centred workstation for a bridge wing. With an ergonomic view I have explored different working positions through an experimental study using a functional prototype and suggested solutions on ways of adjusting the workstation based on the most relevant working positions. The work has led to new knowledge about how the workstation should be designed to fulfil the ship bridge officers needs. A suggestion for further work is presented at the end.