The HS4U aim

The recent world health crisis due to covid-19, displayed the urgent need to improve protocols on maritime health and safety fronts, while also optimizing ship design parameters. For this reason, the HS4U project provides technological innovation solutions with the aim of detecting and controlling disease outbreaks in cruise ships by ensuring healthy ship operations and safe return to port during a health emergency. The planning and execution of the HS4U pilots will allow to test the technologies developed in the project while providing quantifiable metrics on their effectiveness and give feedback for the improvement of the Collective Digital Framework (CDF) and other project components.

The development and execution of the pilot testing

Within T5.1, starting in February 2024, consortium partners will plan the execution of the pilots. The HS4U pilots will be implemented using evidence-based behavioral and environmental data including information from cruise ships (CELESTYAL and COLUMBIA BLUE) as well as recordings on the current environmental conditions for 1 week in a CELESTYAL ship interior. The pilot will include a virtual “demo space” with a “robot cabin” where appropriate components will be installed including sensors, actuators and other components designed by the project in Task 3.1 – Identify the requirements for hardware with respect to sensing and actuation systems. The scenarios identified in T2.2 – Creation of the HS4U scenarios will be implemented step by step and for the live testing, crew/passengers will be given instructions on the scenarios and will be requested to interact with the Collective Digital Framework (CDF) to execute the actions. Within this Task, a set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) will be developed to measure the usability, efficiency, safety, and impact of the tested components (sensors and actuators) along with a plan to collect data for the analysis of the KPIs.

Moving forward in T5.2 – Robot cabin creation, the “robot cabin” will be created in a shipping container at the TSIKIS shipyard and will be demonstrated during the pilot testing phase from August 2024 (M18) until the end of the project in parallel with T5.3 activities which include the pilots’ execution and determination of best practices, methods and tools implemented on policy recommendations, crew training, space use and surveillance.

A visit to the premises of the TSIKIS shipyard and the preparatory steps for the “demo space”

On 24 November 2023, at the premises of the TSIKIS shipyard in Perama (Greece), representatives of TSIKIS shipyard (contributor to T5.1 and T5.2), LEDRA (leader of WP5), ABS (coordinator of HS4U), AETHEON (Contributor to T5.1, T5.2, and T5.3) and ERGMASIN (Contributor to T5.1, T5.2, and T5.3)  met to discuss practical tips regarding the development of the HS4U “demo space”.

A well-structured action plan is crucial for the successful completion of the pilot demo. Stay tuned for more to come in the next months!