Abstract
Incidents involving overhead crane operations at Kennedy Space Center have resulted in a desire to investigate alternative crane control interfaces for potential improvements. This study examines one such interface, which integrates an arm-fire mechanism into an existing crane control console. Two mock crane console configurations were used in a counterbalanced, repeated-measure design to determine effects of the arm-fire on performance and workload ratings of experienced and inexperienced subjects. Addition of the arm-fire produced both positive and negative operational results. Use of the arm-fire mechanism increased operator reaction times, subjective workload ratings, and mean RMS error scores on a secondary tracking task. The arm-fire mechanism effectively mitigated incorrect inputs that could result in injuries or damaged hardware. The only reaction time increase deemed operationally significant was in emergency direction reversal situations. Study funded by NASA grant #NGT10-52621.
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