Automated Autonomy Assessment System, Phase I

The military presents a number of application opportunities, where teams of individuals performing standard tasks. Examples include submarine and aircraft carrier crews, most particularly those working in the command center and the engine room. We expect this same technology to transfer to these military situations, where the performance of individual crew could be assessed relative to varying autonomy levels to identify an optimal setting for each crew or combination of crew. A variety of commercial activities also have similar characteristics such as operators of nuclear power plants, oil refineries, and other such large industries. They often perform standard operating procedures and need to be monitored closely for degraded performance. Even in situations in which lives or property are not at risk, monitoring individual and team performance and adjusting their autonomy is useful for managers interested in achieving peak performance. This technology could be applied to all current and future NASA missions. While it is being developed for application to intermediate to long duration space flight operations, the techniques are amenable to application in shorter duration flight operations as well, such as related to the International Space Station and Space Shuttle, where autonomy level can be varied to achieve improvement in productivity. This technology could also be applied to NASA's Aerospace activities. More »