HUMAN FACTORS EXPERT SYSTEM DESIGN AID FOR MILITARY APPLICATIONS OF ROBOTICS

HUMAN FACTORS NEEDS TO BE EMBODIED AS AN "EXPERT SYSTEM" TO BE EFFECTIVELY INTEGRATED WITHIN ROBOTICS APPLICATIONS. THIS PROPOSED EFFORT WILL DESIGN AND DEVELOP AN "EXPERT SYSTEM" TO GUIDE THE APPLICATION OF HUMAN FACTORS IN ROBOTICS. THE EXPERT SYSTEM WILL CONTAIN TWO ELEMENTS: FIRST, A KNOWLEDGE BASE. SECOND, AN "INFERENCEDRIVE." THE KNOWLEDGE BASE WILL BE CONSTRUCTED BY INCORPORATING THE KNOWLEDGE OF EXPERTS AND BY AUTOMATING SELECTED SECTIONS OF CURRENT HUMAN FACTORS GUIDEBOOKS/HANDBOOKS AND OTHER DESIGN AIDS. THE SELECTION WOULD BE GUIDED BY INPUTS FROM HUMAN FACTORS PROFESSIONALS AS WELL AS FROM PROFESSIONALS INVOLVED IN APPLICATIONS OF ROBOTICS. THE INFERENCE DRIVER WILL USE RULES OF REASONING (I.E., HEURISTICS) TO ACCESS, AS WELL AS INTERPRET INFORMATION IN THE KNOWLEDGE BASE AND GENERATE CONCLUSIONS. INFORMATION FROM PAST DESIGN EFFORTS AND STATE-OF-THE-ART DATA SOURCES CONTAIN THOUSANDS OF HUMAN FACTORS PRINCIPLES;THE USE OF WHICH COULD ASSIST IN THE DESIGN OF ROBOTICS SYSTEMS. THE PROPOSED PROJECT WILL IDENTIFY AND EVALUATE PRESENTLY AVAILABLE, VALIDATED HUMAN FACTORS DATA SOURCES. AUTOMATE THESE SOURCES WOULD BE PARTICULARLY APPLICABLE TO ENHANCING SAFETY, OPERATION MAINTENANCE AND OTHER CONSIDERATIONS WITHIN BOTH GOVERNMENT AND COMMERCIAL SECTORS.