Consideration of communication in human–machine interaction for cooperative trajectory planning

Interactive human–machine systems aim to significantly enhance performance
and reduce human workload by leveraging the combined strengths of humans
and automated systems. In the state of the art, human–machine cooperation
(HMC) systems are modeled in various interaction layers, e.g., the decision
layer, trajectory layer, and action layer. The literature usually focuses on the
action layer, assuming that there is no need for a consensus at the decision
or trajectory layers. Only few studies deal with the interaction at the trajectory
layer. None of the previous work has systematically examined the structure
of communication for interaction between humans and machines beyond
the action layer. Therefore, this paper proposes a graph representation based
on a multi-agent system theory for human–machine cooperation. For this
purpose, a layer model for human–machine cooperation from the literature is
converted into a graph representation. Using our novel graph representation, the
existence of communication loops can be demonstrated, which are necessary
for emancipated cooperation. In contrast, a leader–follower structure does
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not possess a closed loop in this graph representation. The choice of the
communication loop for emancipated cooperation is ambiguous and can take
place via various closed loops at higher layers of human–machine interactions,
which open new possibilities for the design of emancipated cooperative control
systems. In a simulation, it is shown that emancipated cooperation is possible
via three variants of communication loops and that a consensus on a common
trajectory is found in each case. The results indicate that taking into account
cooperative strategies at the trajectory layer can enhance the performance and
effectiveness of human–machine systems.