ABSTRACT
Automation evolution and emergent contributing disciplines with respect to behavioral levels of Jens Rasmussen’s model are presented on the right side. At the rule-based level, automation involves disciplines such as operational research, optimization, and expert systems. Control and management of life-critical systems are typically supported by operations procedures and automation. Automation is usually thought as automation of machine functions. Organization-driven flexibility is directly related to participatory design and collaborative operations. Flexible autonomy requires integration of experience and expertise, which is often available in the form of cases solved in the past and that can be reusable in similar situations. Flexible technology will be useful when it will support successful endeavors, especially in abnormal and emergency situations as well as unknown and rare situations. Organization complexity is linked to social cognition, agent–network complexity, and more generally, multi-agent management issues. Whether at skill or rule level, automation is implemented in the form of rigid procedures.
