Ethology is the study of Animal Behavior. The concept of ethologically inspired models allows to study and understand behavior of animals and then aim to develop systems that mimic such models for Autonomous Behaviors.
If one defines the autonomous robot as a mechanical or electronic agent that can extend human capacities then the HORSE (which has been domesticated by humans) represents the first “biological robot” because some time after domestication, horses were utilized as transportation and an aid in travel, hunting, warfare, protection etc » (Miklósi, 2007).
A Blended control architecture that mimics a horse/rider teaming can be developed and applied to modern autonomy vehicles and systems in general. The vehicle becomes an efficient member of the Human Robot Team. This will result in reduced workload for the human, improved situational awareness for both the robot and the human, overall improvement in safety, trust, and neglect tolerance.
The H-Metaphor is an automation control architecture that mimics and horse and its rider and was developed by researcher Ken Goodrich and Frank Flemish of the NASA Langley Research Center. The architecture was originally applied to reduce the workload of pilots in the automated cockpit of the future.
Complemation when combined with Ethology results in ethologically inspired Blender models of automation that complements or mimics the individual teamings between animals and humans.The vehicle becomes an effective member of the Human Robot Team.
Modern autonomous systems are, and will be in the future, dependent on the development of successful approaches to human–autonomy teaming. Here we define and explore “the system” consisting of the platform, the software and the human “operator”. Future automation should be designed to mitigate the risk associated with the autonomy conundrum by actively assessing and managing the humans’ engagement. This website introduces new approaches to automation that involve human cognition, human-animal teaming, and complemation concepts in automation and control.