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Effect of Automating Procedural Work on Situation Awareness and Workload
Debra Schreckenghost1, Kritina Holden2, Maya Greene3
1TRACLabs, Webster, TX, USA.
Human Factors
|January 28, 2022
Summary
Automated systems in space exploration reduce crew workload. While situation awareness remained consistent across manual, shared, and supervised work strategies, subjective workload was lowest with automation, with most participants preferring it.
Area of Science:
- Human-computer interaction in space exploration
- Automation and human performance
Background:
- Future deep space missions require increased crew autonomy.
- Crew autonomy necessitates greater reliance on automated systems for procedural tasks.
- Investigating automation's impact on crew performance is crucial for mission success.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the performance effects of different automation strategies on procedural work in space exploration.
- To assess the impact of manual, shared, and supervised automation on situation awareness (SA) and workload.
- To determine crew preference for different levels of automation.
Main Methods:
- A simulation study involving 27 participants in a planetary habitat scenario.
- Comparison of three procedural work strategies: Manual Work, Shared Work, and Supervised Work.
- Measurement of situation awareness (SA) using a modified Situation Presence Assessment Method and subjective workload using the Bedford Workload Scale.
Main Results:
- No significant differences in response times or accuracy for situation awareness (SA) queries across the three strategies.
- Subjective workload ratings were highest for Manual Work, lower for Shared Work, and lowest for Supervised Work.
- Participants reported significantly lower workload with automation strategies.
Conclusions:
- Increased automation in procedural tasks does not negatively impact situation awareness (SA).
- Automation strategies, particularly supervised work, significantly reduce subjective crew workload.
- A strong preference for automation exists among crew members, with Shared Work being the most preferred condition.
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