Page 47: of Marine News Magazine (February 2015)

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Futuristic Bridge Concept by Rolls-Royce

By Joseph Keefe n 2013 alone, Rolls-Royce invested £1.1 billion on re- ready accomplished so much more than that. Rolls-Royce search and development while at the same time sup- worked together with VTT’s researchers and Aalto Uni-

Iporting a global network of 31 University Technol- versity to develop the new bridge, known as the Future ogy Centers, which position Rolls-Royce engineers at the Operator Experience Concept or ‘oX’. It features smart forefront of scienti? c research. Today, Rolls-Royce predicts workstations, which automatically recognize individuals that Ship Intelligence will be the next major transition for when they walk into the bridge, and adjust to their own the shipping industry as ships become ever more complex. preferences. Beyond this, the windows of the bridge serve

As that happens, managing high levels of data in order to as augmented reality displays of the vessel’s surroundings, operate on-board systems will be a big part of that reality. including visualization of potential hazards that would

At ? rst, says Roll-Royce, this will better manage propul- otherwise be invisible to the human eye. The system can, sion and navigation systems. Later, it could potentially for example, pinpoint sea ice or tug boats and other craft lead to autonomous vessels. that may not be visible to the crew.

The ? rst step towards that lofty goal was taken in De- The real change, according to Levander involves how cember by the VTT Technical Research Center of Finland, the system brings up data for the user. He explains, “We together with Rolls-Royce, as they jointly unveiled their provide the right information, for the right user at the right latest vision of Ship Intelligence – a futuristic ship’s bridge time,” adding, “It’s a more interactive experience between concept which could become reality as early as 2025. Rolls- the anchor handling tug and the rig itself. Using ‘augment-

Royce VP of Innovation Oskar Levander told MarineNews ed reality,’ where everyone shares the same information, in January, “We are system integrators.” That said; a ? rst the goal is to not to overwhelm the user, but instead give glance at their oX Bridge concept reveals that they have al- them the data that they need and can handle.” 47 www.marinelink.com MN