ABSTRACT
Human operators faced with an unexpected situation can take effective actions if they aware constraints in work space of a human-machine system (HMS). This paper describes a design concept of Ecological Interface Design (EID) display indicating information about intention of automation. Aim of this interface is aiding operators to comprehend means and goals used by automated controllers and the significance of them in achievement of a top goal of the HMS. An experiment was performed to examine the efficacy of the intention-represented EID in supporting operators using a partially-automated process control simulation. The results show that the performance was significantly higher with the proposed EID than with a standard EID. The proposed interface has ability to support operators in essential tasks for operations of HMSs, which are assessment of tasks of automated controllers, awareness of goals of the controllers, prediction of control actions by the controllers, prediction of system behaviors, decision making and action planning, and also knowledge-based operations in inexperienced situations.
