A Mixed Initiative Human-Robots Team Performance Assessment System for Use in Operational and Training Environments

Abstract

Abstract : Military forces of the future will use mixed manned and unmanned forces for a broad variety of functions. Measurement of overall effectiveness in these mixed initiative systems will be essential in order to achieve optimal system performance levels. Behavioral measures of both human and unmanned performance obtained in system simulations or in live exercises will be used to continuously diagnose performance and identify required areas of training requirements. Likewise, specialized training will be necessary in order to leverage the complementary cognitive functions of human and machine to forge fighting entities and units with capabilities superior to those of humans or machines in isolation. Our team is currently developing a Mixed Initiative Team Performance Assessment System (MITPAS) consisting of a methodology, tools and procedures to measure the performance of mixed manned and unmanned teams in both training and real world operational environments. The work is being performed under SBIR Phase I and II contracts administered by RDECOM/STTC, Orlando, FL. Our objective is to provide a scalable turnkey MITPAS software system integrated with simulation and training environments, utilizing COTS HLA data logging tools and containing protocols for evaluation of various manned/unmanned team configurations in selected event-based scenarios. This paper describes our in-progress development of a underlying Multi-Dimensional Performance Model, our preliminary MITPAS architecture and our Use Case Scenario based experimental and evaluation plan, as well as our ideas for future applications of the completed MITPAS.