Collaborative Research: US-German Research on Human-Automation Interaction for the Future of Work

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Automated systems have been around for decades. However today, computer-based automated apps and devices are woven into our professional and personal daily lives to a greater extent than before. Our goal is to design human-automation interactions for the future of work, which are intuitive, and promote safety, transparency, dignity, and trust. To do this, we need both scientific and technological advancements, as well as a workforce that understands the challenges and opportunities of the future of work. Our IRES students will help develop the science and technology, and through their interactions with our German colleagues, they will be trained by thought leaders in the field of the future of work, helping us create the US workforce that will tackle the problems of the new future of work. Each summer six student participants will conduct research for two months on this topic in Germany in research labs led by thought leaders in the field. The grant will support inclusive excellence in STEM disciplines by promoting the participation of Black, Indigenous and People of Color, and in particular women.Our goal is to design human-automation interactions for the future of work, which are intuitive, and promote safety, transparency, dignity, and trust. The intellectual merit of the proposed work will be the advances in human-automation interaction in four areas. First, our work will shed light on how we should allocate tasks between human and automated agents under certain work contexts, including in automated vehicles and when working from home. Second, we will improve our understanding of how to create human-automation interaction for work-related tasks where workers develop trust at the appropriate level. Third, we will identify ways in which human-automation interaction can support worker attention in different work contexts, including automated vehicles and work from home. Fourth, we will expand our understanding of how novel technologies can support work, and importantly also wellbeing. Our technology focus areas will include speech, augmented reality and virtual reality, and tangible interfaces. While these technologies are already available, we will explore how they could be widely used in work settings to support a broad range of tasks.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.