Analysis, modeling and control of human-machine interaction and the emergence of coordination and synchronization in human ensembles

以复杂网络的形式化为代表的大量动力系统之间相互作用的研究是当前动力系统和控制理论研究的前沿。特别是，许多研究工作都花在理解如何在通过网络互连的一组动态代理中出现集体行为上。复杂网络分析在现实世界中的应用例子涵盖了从生命和社会科学到物理和工程的各个领域。这个博士项目的目标将是研究、建模和分析人类玩家在执行联合任务时出现的协调行为，以便开发能够驱动机器人或虚拟玩家与一组个人接触并形成团队的反馈控制策略。更具体地说，在我的博士期间，我的目标是超越二元互动的限制，将人类群体中的同步研究从二元互动扩展到群体互动，并探索动力学和现象(同步、领导力等)。出现并刻画了个体之间复杂的互动网络。这将通过一种创新的基于计算机的设置来完成，该设置允许研究人类对不同交互模式的协调，并在大群组中引入虚拟代理；此外，拟议的软件将允许在互联网上匿名进行实验，这样每个参与者都不知道其他人的身份。综上所述，我的项目目标将是开发一个软件平台来研究人类和/或虚拟参与者网络中开始协调的潜在机制，并探索后者在受社会障碍影响的患者的康复策略中的新的可能实现。综上所述，我的博士学位的目标将是：-创建新的软件平台，允许个人在互联网上执行联合任务并相互协调，以便监控他们的行为和集体现象的出现-导出数据驱动的群体同步模型；建立基于非线性控制策略的新的认知体系结构，用于虚拟代理在组中进行交互；-从数值上验证所建议的虚拟代理认知架构的有效性，然后通过实验验证--探索项目期间开发的模型和策略在社会障碍患者康复中的应用

The study of the interactions among a large number of dynamical systems, represented through the formalismof complex networks, is at the forefront of current research in Dynamical Systems and Control Theory. Inparticular, much research effort is being spent in understanding how collective behavior emerge in a group ofdynamical agents interconnected over a network. Examples of real-world applications of complex networkanalysis span from Life and Social Science to Physics and Engineering. The goal of this PhD project will be tostudy, model and analyse the emergence of coordinated behaviour in groups of human players performing ajoint task in order to develop feedback control strategies able to drive robots or virtual players to engage with agroup of individuals and form a team.More specifically, during my PhD I aim at going beyond the limit of dyadic interaction, extending the study ofsynchronization in human ensembles from dyadic to group interaction and exploring the dynamics and thephenomena (synchronization, leadership etc.) that emerge and characterize the complex network of interactionsbetween individuals. This will be done through an innovative computer-based set-up that allows studyinghuman coordination over different interaction patterns and introducing virtual agents in large groups;furthermore the proposed software will allow experiments to be carried out anonymously over the Internet, sothat each participant is not aware of the others' identity. Summarizing, the aim of my project will be that ofdeveloping a software platform to investigate the mechanisms underlying the onset of coordination in networksof human and/or virtual players, and exploring new possible implementation for the latter in strategies for therehabilitation of patients affected by social disorders.To summarize, the objectives of my PhD will be to: - Create novel software platform to allow individuals to perform joint tasks over the internet and coordinate each other in order to monitor their behaviour and the emergence of collective phenonema - Derive data-driven models of group synchronization; Build a novel cognitive architecture based on nonlinear control strategies for virtual agents to interact in a group; - Validate numerically and then experimentally the effectiveness of the proposed cognitive architecture forvirtual agents - Explore the application of the model and strategies developed during the project to telerehabilitation ofpatients suffering from social disorders