“Bear an e-hand”: Designing a wearable assistant for single-handed and small crew sail racing

Abstract

The objective of this research is to design a set of functionalities that support the activity of a skipper engaged in a competitive offshore single-handed race. This work has a twofold aim: designing new agency for skipper supervision, control and command to contribute to a better overall performance, and, secondly, to ensure onboard safety. The different phases of a human- centred design approach were applied, with special emphasis on the analysis of the skipper’s activity in order to identify the complex articulation between the different components of the system (human, technical, normative, and natural elements). Based on this extended characterization of the coupling between human, technology and the environment, a set of successive digital mock-ups was designed and iteratively tested in a simulated environment. The results from the last testing iteration demonstrated the functional value of the “augmented skipper” and its perceived usability from the user’s point of view. In the next step of the project, the mock-up will be tested in real conditions in order to complete the experimental evaluation.