Adaptive Instructional Flowchart for Equipment Maintenance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing instructional flowcharts for equipment maintenance and repair often lack clarity in progress tracking and require multiple versions for different skill levels, leading to inefficiencies and increased costs.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that customize instructional flowcharts by determining user and equipment characteristics, hiding or revealing subtasks based on user experience and equipment history, allowing both experts and novices to work the same prescription with varying levels of detail without altering the original data.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If detailed instructions are provided for all tasks in the prescription, then novice technicians can complete tasks with guidance, but expert technicians are slowed down by unnecessary details
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts the level of instructional detail displayed in the flowchart based on real-time assessment of the technician's expertise. When a technician interacts with the system, the controller evaluates their responses and skill level, then automatically modifies which task details are revealed or concealed, allowing the interface to adapt its complexity to match the user's capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
Different levels of detail are applied to different portions of the prescription based on the technician's demonstrated expertise. The system identifies specific tasks where detailed instructions are necessary versus those where high-level guidance suffices, applying appropriate detail levels locally rather than uniformly across the entire prescription.
2Ease of operation
If multiple versions of prescriptions are created for different skill levels, then both novice and expert technicians receive appropriate instructions, but the system becomes more complex and costly to maintain
Solution Approach 1:
A single prescription document serves multiple functions by incorporating conditional display logic that adapts to different user skill levels. Rather than maintaining separate prescription versions, the system enables one universal prescription to dynamically present itself in different detail configurations based on the technician's assessed expertise, eliminating the need for parallel version management.
Solution Approach 2:
The prescription system transitions from static, fixed-content documents to dynamic, adaptive documents that automatically reconfigure their displayed content based on real-time user assessment. This dynamic behavior allows one prescription to function as multiple versions would, reducing maintenance complexity while preserving instructional appropriateness.
3Ease of operation
If flowchart prescriptions are used to represent task sequences, then visual representation improves understanding, but tracking progress and determining completion status becomes difficult when tasks are not followed sequentially
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements continuous feedback mechanisms where the controller monitors which tasks have been completed, which are in progress, and which remain pending. This feedback information is automatically displayed on the flowchart interface, providing real-time progress tracking that maintains visual clarity regardless of the order in which tasks are completed. The system tracks and communicates completion status without requiring sequential progression through the flowchart.
Data Source
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AI summary
Systems and methods for tailoring a single prescription for different users for completing tasks on equipment are provided. A prescription representative of a flowchart or decision tree for performing a main set of the tasks is obtained. Characteristics of the equipment and/or a user of the prescription are obtained. Content of the prescription that is displayed to the user during performance of at least some of the tasks on the equipment is tailored based on the characteristics. The content of the prescription is tailored by hiding one or more of the tasks that are not applicable to the equipment from display to the user. This can occur without any data or information being removed from or added to the prescription. Instead, the prescription can be tailored by changing what information is automatically and/or initially displayed to the user.