Understanding Human-Autonomy Teaming through Interdependence Analysis

ABSTRACT- As any craftsman knows, having the right tool for the job makes all the difference. Sadly, adequate formative tools are lacking for the design of human-autonomy teaming. Most existing tools focus on the taskwork, in particular physical activity. More advanced efforts extend this with consideration for cognitive activity. While these traditional task-based approaches are important, they do not sufficiently capture human-machine teaming requirements. The key to understanding human-autonomy teaming, and in fact teaming in general, is understanding interdependence. This paper proposes several design principles to help designers reorient their minds and view the problem space through the lens of interdependence. The paper then discusses a design and analysis tool called the Interdependence Analysis tool. This tool’s purpose is to understand how people and automation can effectively team by providing insight into the interdependence relationships used to support one another throughout an activity. This tool helps recognize both the human factors and the technological factors that enhance or inhibit effective teaming. As such, it can be used to derive both algorithmic and interface implementation requirements. The goal of interdependence analysis is improving the guidance provided to designers building human–machine systems in order to achieve more effective teaming. As we build more intelligent machines to tackle more sophisticated challenges, designers need formative tools for creating effective teaming. The Interdependence Analysis tool meets this need, explicitly modelling the machine, the human, the work and the interplay of all three.