Abstract

With the explosion of automated technology, the need for humans as supervisors of complex automatic control systems has replaced the need for humans in direct manual control. A consequence of complex, highly automated domains in which the human decision-maker is more on-the-loop than in-the-loop is that the level of required cognition has moved from that of well-rehearsed skill execution and rule following to higher, more abstract levels of knowledge synthesis, judgment, and reasoning. Employing human-centered design principles to human supervisory control problems, and identifying ways in which humans and computers can leverage the strengths of the other to achieve superior decisions together is the central focus of the MIT Humans and Automation Laboratory (HAL). Dr Mary (Missy) Cummings, the Director of HAL , will give an overview of the current research in HAL , and will present results from recent human-in-the-loop experiments focusing on the supervisory control of multiple unmanned aerial vehicles.