{"id":32724,"date":"2018-11-28T16:23:47","date_gmt":"2018-11-28T16:23:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/11\/28\/learning-how-to-work-with-your-robot-colleagues\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:37:34","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:37:34","slug":"learning-how-to-work-with-your-robot-colleagues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2018\/11\/28\/learning-how-to-work-with-your-robot-colleagues\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning how to work with your robot colleagues"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For most people today, robots and smart systems are servants that work in the background<\/a>, vacuuming carpets or turning lights on and off. Or they\u2019re machines that have taken over repetitive human jobs from assembly-line workers and bank tellers. But the technologies are getting good enough that machines will be able work alongside people as teammates \u2013 much as human-dog teams handle tasks<\/a> like hunting and bomb detection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are already some early examples of robots and people teaming up. For example, soldiers use drones for surveillance <\/a>and ground robots for bomb disposal <\/a>as they carry out military missions. But the U.S. Army envisions increased teaming of soldiers, robots and autonomous systems in the next decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond the military, these human-robot teams will soon start working in fields as diverse as health care, agriculture, transportation, manufacturing and space exploration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers and companies are exploring lots of avenues for improving how robots and artificial intelligence systems<\/a> work \u2013 and technical advances <\/a>are important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an applied cognitive scientist <\/a>who has conducted research on human teaming in highly technical settings, I can say human-robot systems won\u2019t be as good as they could be if the designers don\u2019t understand how to engineer technologies that work most effectively with real people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few basic concepts from the deep body of scholarly research into human teamwork can help develop and manage these new relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Steven Murphy, with Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific, recovers an autonomous underwater vehicle during the semifinals of the 21st annual RoboSub competition, an international robotics competition held at SSC Pacific’s six-million gallon transducer evaluation center in San Diego on Aug. 4. (Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Charles E. White\/ Navy)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

1. Different jobs<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teams are necessarily groups of people with separate, though interdependent<\/a>, roles and responsibilities. A surgical team, for instance, might include a nurse, a surgeon and an anesthesiologist. Similarly, members of a human-robot team should be assembled to take on different elements of a complex task.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robots should do things they are best at, or that people don\u2019t want to do \u2013 like lifting heavy items, testing chemicals and crunching data. That frees up people to do what they\u2019re best at \u2013 like adapting to changing situations and coming up with creative solutions to problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A human-robot surgical team might have a human surgeon conducting laparoscopic or minimally invasive surgery with assistance<\/a> from a robot manipulator with cameras that is inserted into the patient and operated externally by the surgeon. The view can be augmented by overlaying medical imaging data on the patient\u2019s internal anatomy on the camera view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Planning for this sort of division of labor suggests people shouldn\u2019t replicate themselves in machines. In fact, humanoid-shaped robots or robots and AI that mimic human social behavior may mislead their human teammates into having unrealistic expectations<\/a> of what they can do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rear Adm. David Hahn, chief of naval research, operates the Maritime Dexterous Manipulation System (MDMS) from RE2 Robotics while visiting the Office of Naval Research exhibit during the 2018 OCEANS conference and exposition on Oct. 23, 2018. The MDMS consists of two 5-degree-of-freedom robotic arms with two-finger grippers. The arms are electro-mechanical and are roughly the same size as a human, meaning that when mounted on a smaller underwater vehicle, they can perform human-like tasks. (John F. Williams\/Navy)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

2. Mutual backup<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Effective teams\u2019 members know that everyone has a different role \u2013 but are available to support each other<\/a> when necessary. The disastrously fatal response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 was partly the result of confusion and lack of coordination<\/a> among government agencies and other groups like the Red Cross.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teammates need to understand their own roles and those of the rest of the team, and how they fit together. They also need to be able to use this knowledge to avoid stepping on teammates\u2019 toes, while anticipating others\u2019 potential needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robots and artificial intelligence need to understand how their parts of the task relate to the parts their teammates are doing, and how they might be able to help as needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Senior Chief Navy Diver Jeff Corrie, assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 speaks to a visitor about EOD robotics at the 75th Oceana Air Show on Sept. 21 in Virginia Beach. (Chief Mass Communication Specialist Jeff Atherton\/Navy)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

3. Common understanding<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Effective teams share knowledge<\/a> about the team goals and the current situation and this facilitates their interactions <\/a>\u2013 even when direct communication is not possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The benefit of shared knowledge allows all sorts of collaborations and coordinations. For instance, when inflating a hot air balloon, the pilot is at one end, in the basket monitoring the burner. A crew member must be at the far end of the balloon, steadying it by holding a rope attached to its top. They can\u2019t see or hear each other because the balloon blocks the view and the propane burner drowns out any other sound. But if they\u2019re trained well, neither needs to communicate to know what the other is doing, and know what needs to happen next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The connection team members have comes not only from information they all know, but shared knowledge developed through experience working together. Some scholars have suggested that robots can\u2019t build experience<\/a> and shared knowledge with humans, while other researchers are working on finding ways to actually do that. Machine learning will likely be a key factor<\/a> in helping robots develop expectations of their coworkers\u2019 behavior. Coupled with human intelligence, each side will learn about the other\u2019s capabilities, limitations and idiosyncrasies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Thomas B. Modly, Under Secretary of the Navy, receives the baseball for the ceremonial first pitch from a bomb disposal robot during Cleveland Navy Week at Progressive Field before the start of the Sept. 1 game between the Cleveland Indians and Tampa Bay Rays. (Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Tamara Vaughn\/Navy)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

4. Effective interaction and communication<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Team members need to interact; effective teaming depends greatly on the quality of those interactions. In hospital teams for emergency resuscitation of patients, team interaction and communication<\/a> are crucial. Those teams are often made up of whatever medical personnel are nearest to the patient, and members need to know right away what happened before the patient\u2019s heart stopped \u2013 a life is at stake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet even between people, communication isn\u2019t always seamless. Between people and robots there are even more challenges \u2013 like making sure they share understandings of how words are used or what appropriate responses are to questions. Artificial intelligence researchers are making great strides in advancing computers\u2019 ability to understand<\/a>, and even produce, natural language \u2013 as many people experience with their smart assistant devices like Amazon\u2019s Alexa and Google Home, and mobile and car-based GPS directions systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not even clear if typical human communication is the best model for human-robot teams. Human-dog teams <\/a>do fine without the use of natural language. Navy SEALs can work together at highly effective levels without uttering a word<\/a>. Bees communicate location<\/a> of resources with a dance. Communication does not have to involve words; it could include sound signals and visual cues. If a robot was tending the patient when their heart stopped, it could indicate what happened on a monitor that all resuscitation team members could see.<\/p>\n\n\n\t