Beatriz Amante

Evaluación de la Usabilidad para la Tarea de Supervisión Humana en Sala de Control Industrial

En tareas de supervision humana de sala de control industrial se aplican de forma generica disciplinas como la seguridad y la ergonomia fisica para el diseno de la sala de control. Desde el punto de vista de la interaccion persona-ordenador, a estas disciplinas hay que anadir la ingenieria de la usabilidad y la ergonomia cognitiva ya que aportan pautas para el diseno centrado en el usuario. Este articulo presenta una guia ergonomica de diseno para la mejora de la calidad de una interfaz de supervision industrial, y propone la evaluacion de la usabilidad para medir la eficiencia del operario de sala de control industrial. El articulo muestra la aplicacion de la guia sobre el simulador de alcance total del Centro de Tecnologia Azucarera, para contribuir al programa de formacion de operarios en aspectos de mejoras de rendimiento del sistema persona-ordenador en procesos productivos complejos

Towards integral human-machine system conception: From automation design to usability concerns

The purpose of this communication is to show an additional advantage of the well known guide for start and stop modes, GEMMA, that should motivate its use as well as to introduce the consideration of the human operator as an integral part of the automation procedure. The inclusion of the human operator as well as his interplay with the automation device needs some guidelines that can be drawn from joining the GEMMA structured approach and some concepts borrowed from cognitive ergonomic theory and human-computer interaction. Finally, this paper shows some examples of human-machine interfaces (industrial panel, interface display screen).

Multidisciplinary study of tutoring using virtual characters and Second Life

In this article we present the planning and methodology followed in order to apply virtual tutoring sessions in different subjects and universities. The Second Life environment, together with the Voki speaking avatars will be employed. It is a multidisciplinary study that includes personal and collective tutoring sessions, answering key questions through animated avatars, virtual labs, and posters exhibition for peer-evaluation. From a survey run among the students it is concluded that most of them are willing to learn and try this kind of tutoring sessions, but at the same time some feel skeptical about its utility.

The use of role playing in engineering curricula: A case study in human-automation systems

This communication presents a collaborative experience between four Spanish centers: the School of Engineering (ETSE) and the Sports Services Area (SAF) both from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) jointly with two centers of the Technical University of Catalonia, the high school from Vilanova i la Geltru (EPSEVG) and the high school in Terrassa (ETSEIAT). The idea behind this collaboration is to explore the possibility of role engineering education and project development for engineering students. The basic principle of such projects is the identification of the corresponding roles associated with the different parts that can be found on current social/industrial activity.