The Dibber: Designing a standardised handheld tool for lay-up tasks

We present an application of engineering and ergonomics principles in the design of a standardised tool, The Dibber, which is a tool with multiple geometric features to fit the diversity of lay-up tasks used in the composites industry. The Dibber is the result of a design process, which consists of a series of observations and prototyping to extract geometric requirements for lay-up tasks. To demonstrate that it is possible to design a standardised tool prototypes of the Dibber were distributed and 91 participants gave feedback. Our results are positive and show consistent patterns of use across industry sectors, as well as between novice and expert laminators.