Completed in 10 weeks as a professional user design exercise during year one of the Interaction Design MFA at Umeå Institute of Design.
IMPROVE WORKER MOTIVATION
How can you improve feedback user interface for increased job satisfaction and performance when operating forestry machines in the north of Sweden? More specifically, this challenge was geared towards motivating experienced operators, reducing the learning curve for new operators, and expanding the demographic of operators entering the industry.
"It is easy to operate the forwarder, but it is very difficult to operate it efficiently and economically"
-Forwarder operator
IN FIELD RESEARCH
During this design exercise we placed a heavy focus on understanding how the industry operates as a whole. We conducted in field observations, operator ride alongs, and operator interviews. Once we accumulated the raw research material we analyzed it through building persona, communication mapping, and conducting task analyses. We distilled our focus by designating three main guiding terms: empowerment, accomplishment, and most of all joy.
SHIFT PERSPECTIVE ON COLLECTION
The core of the LOOP concept is to alter the emotion model of the current collection method in order to highlight the aspects of the job that our research showed operators enjoy. The main goal is to increase the flow state that the operator gets into when collecting logs throughout the collection cycle.
impact
LOOP provides an operation model that takes into consideration the logistics and economic factors present within the industry, but chooses to place the operator at the focus. By doing this we feel that the work environment forwarder operators are in becomes more enjoyable and hence more inviting for a broader operator base.
Within the cabin environment that we created we sought to create a symbiotic relationship between the operator and machine. It also at times acts like an extension of the operator with more ergonomic and intuitive squeeze controls.
Process Highlight: Systems Approach
From our research we were able to learn that operators collect logs from the forest In different ways depending on their skill level and amount of experience. We used journey mapping and interviews to learn how the operators work on a daily basis. In order to have a more motivating environment we decided to get to the core of why operators worked the way they did and how they felt during various times in the workflow. We found that by altering how operators collect logs from the forest has a positive impact on machine operator's work satisfaction.
Through going out and having conversations with not only experienced operators in the field but also novices in the classrooms of the forestry high school in Buträsk, Sweden we found that there are some noticeable differences in how operators drive and collect. Novices tended to drive out and collect until they had a full load while experienced operators planned out the route in their heads on the way to the logs and then collected on the way back. This leads to a tricky drive back that was described as the most difficult and least fun within novice operators, and a higher level of mental fatigue for the more experienced operators.
Loop utilizes the sensing capabilities that are currently within grasp of modern forestry machines like gps location of machines and a more focused use of this positioning to geolocate logs' location and orientation, ground conditions, and log type and weight identification. By providing this data to the operator when and where he/she needs it the operator can focus on what they described as the most fun part of their job, collecting logs.
Connecting Operators with Truck Drivers
During our research we found that one area where communication was vital was between the operators and the truck drivers that collected the cut logs from the drop site. When we interviewed forwarder operators they often said that they get calls from truck drivers who want to know what is ready to be picked up at the road. They also ask if the site has the type of logs that they are looking for. This information is not available to the operator as the information collected is only the types of logs that have been cut. Loop allows for the log information both by the road and in the forest. Using a heads up display in unison with a digital screen that is controlled by touch pads on the interface's joysticks the operator can easily relay important information without interrupting their workflow.