Autonomy and Fatigue in Human-Robot Teams

Abstract

Extending concurrent work in which we develop frameworks for risk-aware leadership structures and for adaptive autonomy in human-robot teams, in this paper we target fatigue as an influencer in human-robot team performance. Fatigue negatively impacts humans’ situational awareness, spatial awareness, cognitive abilities, and other aspects of human functioning. This investigation intends to evaluate the effects of different levels of fatigue and risk, outside of and within human-robot teams, on performance, and determine the extent to which increasing levels of autonomy can help mitigate the effects of fatigue.