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Abstract
The present study assessed the impact of task load and level of automation (LOA) on task switching in participants supervising a team of four or eight semi-autonomous robots in a simulated ‘capture the flag’ game. Participants were faster to perform the same task than when they chose to switch between different task actions. They also took longer to switch between different tasks when supervising the robots at a high compared to a low LOA. Task load, as manipulated by the number of robots to be supervised, did not influence switch costs. The results suggest that the design of future unmanned vehicle (UV) systems should take into account not simply how many UVs an operator can supervise, but also the impact of LOA and task operations on task switching during supervision of multiple UVs.
The findings of this study are relevant for the ergonomics practice of UV systems. This research extends the cognitive theory of task switching to inform the design of UV systems and results show that switching between UVs is an important factor to consider.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank the George Mason University Interruption Group, Archlab Writing Group and Owen Seely for feedback and comments on this manuscript. This research was supported in part by the Naval Research Independent Laboratory In-House Research (IHR) and Independent Applied Research (IAR) Programs to P.S.; and the Army Research Laboratory under Contract 6004.005.01-C and Air Force Office of Sponsored Research MURI Grant to R.P.
Notes
This material is declared a work of the United States Government and is not subject to copyright protection: approved for public release, distribution in unlimited.