In Search of a Good Title » Emergency Response Analysis

Ph.D. Thesis: Information Abstraction Visualization for Human-Robot Interaction

Curtis M. Humphrey — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 22:08:52 +0000

Vanderbilt School of Engineering

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 Analyses (CTA) on the CBRNE incident response. The Cognitive Information Flow Analysis (CIFA) was developed to combine CTA results and to analyze the path of information as it passes through and is transformed by the system at different human-robot interaction (HRI) user levels. These analyses (i.e., modified CTAs and CIFA) collectively informed the HRI design and development.

The primary contributions of this dissertation are the development and evaluation of two novel visualization techniques that present immediate, relevant, and shared information provided by the robots to the human users in the system of human-robot interfaces. The General Visualization Abstraction (GVA) algorithm, the first technique, is designed to provide information immediacy and relevancy by displaying the most useful information at any given moment determined by rewarding information that is either historically and currently relevant or novel and emerging. The Decision Information Abstracted to a Relevant Encapsulation (DIARE) concept, the second technique, supports decision-making by representing prior event information as a defined volume in the visualization’s information space and encapsulates the volume into an explicit and visual object that can be shared across time and users.

User evaluations were conducted for both visualization techniques. The GVA algorithm’s evaluation results indicate that it can reduce cognitive workload, increase situational awareness, and improve performance for two different HRI user levels. The DIARE concept results indicate that participants were able to rapidly ascertain what had happened previously with great accuracy and good memory recall. Together, these two visualization techniques can assist decision-makers using directable visualizations, such as those used in HRI, by offering an effective method of sharing and providing real-time, relevant information.

Related Papers:

Curtis M. Humphrey. Information Abstraction Visualization for Human-Robot Interaction. PhD thesis,Vanderbilt University, August 2009

Designing a System of User Interfaces for Controlling Robots for Emergency Incident Response

Curtis M. Humphrey — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 21:52:23 +0000

System of User Interfaces

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, radios, maps) and thinking machines (e.g. robots, computerized decision support systems) is that machines incorporate some cognitive abilities. If the emergency response system is to take effective advantage of emerging technology, the response activity needs to be understood in a way that facilitates the incorporation of these thinking machines and the development of effective human machine interactions. The incorporation of new thinking machines into the emergency response system is resulting in a shift, abet slowly, to a new paradigm.

The long-term objective is to design and develop a system of robots and associated human-robot interfaces (HRI) appropriate technology for all responders throughout the human response command hierarchy by first understanding the human activities, rather than starting with the technology design and then evaluating its effectiveness after development.

Remote Operator Interface an Operator/Supervisor Interaction Role

Operations Chief Interface an Abstract Supervisor

CBRNE Event Analysis

Curtis M. Humphrey — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 20:40:38 +0000

GDTA Goal Hierarchy for Emergency Response

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 Analysis (CIFA) in order to develop an understanding of the CBRNE response in its current state. The intent of these analyses was to provide direction for the incorporation of novel technology and robotic systems to improve the CBRNE response.

Related Papers:

Humphrey, C. M., & Adams, J. A. (2009). Applying Cognitive Task Analysis to Broad System Domains: Modifications to and Synergy of Goal-Directed Task Analysis and Cognitive Work Analysis. Manuscript submitted for publication.

Humphrey, C. M., & Adams, J. A. (2009). Cognitive Information Flow Analysis: Definition and Case Study. Manuscript submitted for publication.

Humphrey, C. M., & Adams, J. A. (2009). CBRNE User Levels: Introducing the Abstract Supervisor Human-Robot Interaction Role and Case Study. Manuscript in preparation.<

Emergency Response System Human-Robot Interaction User Levels

Curtis M. Humphrey — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 20:37:36 +0000

Emergency Response System Human-Robot Interaction User Levels

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, domain relevant documents, subject matter expert interviews, and GDTA and CWA results. This project also originated a new human-robot interaction role: the abstract supervisor role.

Related Papers:

Humphrey, C. M., & Adams, J. A. (2009). CBRNE User Levels: Introducing the Abstract Supervisor Human-Robot Interaction Role and Case Study. Manuscript in preparation.

Cognitive Information Flow Analysis (CIFA)

Curtis M. Humphrey — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 20:32:16 +0000

Cognitive Infomation Flow Analysis for Emergency Evaluation

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 the CIFA method to existing Goal-Direct Task Analysis and modified Cognitive Work Analysis results, and investigated CIFA’s use for informing the design of a system of human-robot interfaces.

CIFA can serve as a guide for system design and development. CIFA also provides a number of advantages over combining cognitive task analysis results using relational tables. First, CIFA can express the interconnectivity of the various system subcomponents, including partial ordering and parallelism, by fundamentally focusing on the information flow. Second, CIFA can identify both existing and potential, information bottlenecks and highlight teamwork.

Related Papers:

Humphrey, C. M., & Adams, J. A. (2009). Cognitive Information Flow Analysis: Definition and Case Study. Manuscript submitted for publication.

Robotic Tasks for CBRNE Incident Response

Curtis M. Humphrey — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 20:28:11 +0000

Robot Tasks - Inspecting a bag for hazards

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. This project identified requirements for eight robotic CBRNE incident response tasks that were developed from a CTA, an IFA, and direct responder feedback.

The CTA captured unobservable cognitive processes, decisions, and judgments representing expert performance. The CTA also identified a hierarchy of HRI user levels and the CBRNE response areas most appropriate for robots. The IFA focused on the path of information through the CBRNE response system, including how the information is used and transformed. The IFA also identified important information flow bottlenecks. The identified tasks, when implemented with robots, must provide the same or similar information to that provided by human responders to the decision-making command hierarchy. The identified robotic tasks can significantly impact the response capabilities when the robots are designed and developed properly. We believe that it is necessary to formally analyze and understand how humans conduct their response tasks and apply the analysis results to robot design and development. This approach is a departure from traditional robotic development; however, the application of CTA to other domains has demonstrated dramatic improvements in the resulting technology.

Related Papers:

Humphrey, C. M., & Adams, J. A. (2009) Robotic Tasks for CBRNE Incident Response. Advanced Robotics