The concept of a human “teaming” with a technology fundamentally alters the assumptions of traditional human-automation interaction paradigms, as the technology is required to assume many of the responsibilities (and authorities) traditionally held by humans within the overall system. The HAT Foundational Research Activity has been tasked with producing human-in-the-loop (HITL) experiments that test, identify, and apply HAT principles.
The Human-Autonomy Teaming Task Battery (HATTB) is a research software application that provides a simplified version of real-world tasks that are performed by remote operators (or “pilots”) monitoring and controlling multiple vehicles (e.g., drones) with varying levels of automation. Specifically, the HATTB is used to conduct human-in-the-loop (HITL) experiments that evaluate the performance of research participants as they manage or monitor increasingly autonomous vehicles and simultaneously perform various other predefined tasks. The primary use case for the HATTB is a human factors or cognitive psychology researcher studying the performance of participants as they complete specific scenarios that have been defined by the researcher. The scenarios are created by the researcher within the HATTB software and vary depending on the researcher’s specific goals. The scenarios can use a combination of the available tasks and may be very complex.
The HATTB was created to provide a test-bed that will support not only internal NASA experimentation but will also be made freely available as on open-source software solution for the general research community. This approach will significantly accelerate NASA’s research interests related to humans interacting and teaming with increasingly autonomous remotely operated systems, as the quantity of HATTB studies addressing these topics will not be limited to NASA researchers and resources supporting individual efforts. The HATTB software was developed for the Apple iPad tablet and Apple Mac computer environments.
Technical Points of Contact
Dr. Eric Chancey, Crew Systems and Aviation Operations Branch, NASA Langley Research Center
Mr. Mike Politowicz, Crew Systems and Aviation Operations Branch, NASA Langley Research Center
Return to “Research Spotlight: NASA 2024 Human Research Program Investigators’ Workshop“