Training a Team with Simulated Team Members

Abstract

The process of training teams increasingly occurs in synthetic environments. However, it is often still modeled after live team training, including the disadvantages of live training, for example, the fact that all teammates must be available. This paper explores overcoming the disadvantages of human teammates in training teams in synthetic environments, while keeping the advantages of learning in a collaborative and cooperative fashion. Simulated teammates are a promising alternative because they are always available, may be modeled after experienced training personnel, and may be more cost effective in the long run. This paper details a research approach towards the definition of requirements for simulated teammates. In our approach, we carry out a set of experiments using confederates as simulated teammates, in a well-controlled simulation of a military command-and-control task The results of a first experiment show slightly better teamwork skills for those teams trained with simulated teammates.

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