Future emergency incident responses, including Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosive (CBRNE), will incorporate robots. The ability to interact with robots and understand the resulting volumes of information requires a system of human-robot interfaces employing directable visualizations that provide information immediacy, relevancy, and sharing appropriate for each human’s responsibilities.
This dissertation conducted two modified Cognitive Tasks [...]
The emergency response incidents (e.g., Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosive (CBRNE) incidents or weapons of mass destruction) are evolving from a response involving humans (e.g. first responders, government officials, civilians) with equipment (e.g. protective suits, vehicles, sensors) to a response system combining humans and thinking machines (e.g. robots, information technology). The difference between equipment (e.g. fire engines, [...]
After the events of September 11th, 2001, the need to formally analyze Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosive device (CBRNE) events to lay the framework for improvement through the use of technology is great. This project involved using several analysis techniques, including Goal-Directed Task Analysis (GDTA), modified Cognitive Work Analysis (mCWA), and Cognitive Information Flow [...]
This project formulated how the large numbers of individuals that can be involved in an emergency response event can be encapsulated into ten different Emergency Response System Human-Robot Interaction User Levels that represent the various manners in which responders will interact with future robotic systems. The ten user levels were informed by existing HRI roles, [...]
The Cognitive Information Flow Analysis (CIFA) is a method to combine results from multiple cognitive task analyses while providing a focus on the necessary system information flow, which includes how information is produced, consumed, and transformed by the various system functions and users. This project explored the CIFA concept, conducted a case study that applies [...]
Robots can significantly impact the CBRNE Response activities by providing directed, specific, first-hand information prior to and during hot zone entry. Hot zone entry is not permitted until there is a preliminary hazard identification, responders don PPEs, decontamination facilities are established, etc. Rapid robot deployments will provide additional information and assist in directing the response. [...]