This study examines the effects of team size (2 versus 3 operators) and communication modality (audio versus text) on team performance. Performance and workload measures from 112 undergraduate students from the University of Central Florida were used in this analysis. Results indicated that performance was optimal for teams of three operators using audio systems for distributed communication. Results with the NASA TLX showed patterns where workload was lower in the audio condition. Results with the Multiple Resources Questionnaire (MRQ) showed a reversed trend with a higher score in the audio condition, which was attributed to increases in items associated with audio processing.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BolesD. B.AdairL. P. (2001). The Multiple Resources Questionnaire (MRQ). In Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 45th Annual Meeting (pp. 1790–1794). Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
2.
BurkeJ. L.MurphyR. R. (2004). Human-robot interaction in USAR technical search: Two heads are better than one. 13th IEEE International Workshop on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, 13, 307–312.
3.
BurkeJ.MurphyR. R. (2007). RSVP: An investigation of remote shared visual presence as common ground for human-robot teams. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 2nd ACM Conference on Human Robot Interaction.
4.
CasperJ.MurphyR. R. (2003). Human-robot interactions during the robot-assisted urban search and rescue response at the World Trade Center. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, Part B, 33, 367–385.
5.
ChadwickR. (2005). The impacts of multiple robots and displays views: An urban search and rescue simulation. Proceedings of the 49th Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. 387–391.
6.
FincannonTEvansA.W.IIIJentschFKeeblerJ. (2008). Interactive effects of backup behavior and spatial abilities in the prediction of teammate workload using multiple unmanned vehicles. Proceedings of the 52nd Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.52, 995–999.
7.
FincannonT.KeeblerJJentschF.EvansA.W.III (2008). Target identification support and location support among teams of unmanned system operators [Electronic version]. Proceedings of the 26th Annual Army Science Conference.
8.
FinomoreV. S.WarmJ. S.MatthewsG.RileyM.DemberW. N.ShawT. H., et al. (2006). Measuring the workload of sustained attention. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 50, 1614–1618.
9.
KleinM.I.RileyM.A.WarmJ.S.MatthewsG. (2005). Perceived mental workload in an endoscopic surgery simulator. Proceedings of the 49th Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 49, 1014–1018.
10.
MayerR. (2001). Multi-media learning. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
11.
MurphyR. R. (2004). Human-robot interaction in rescue robotics. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, Part C, 34(2), 138–153.
12.
MurphyR.PrattK.BurkeJ. (2007). Crew roles and operational protocols for rotary-wing micro-UAVs in close urban environments. Proceedings of the 3rd Annual Conference on Human Robot Interaction, 3, 73–80.
13.
OsoskyS.EvansA. W.IIIKeeblerJ. R.JentschF. (2007). Using Scale Simulation and Virtual Environments to Study Human-Robot Teams. Proceedings of the 4th Annual Conference of Augmented Cognition International (pp. 183–189). Baltimore, Maryland.
14.
RehfeldS.JentschF.CurtisM.FincannonT. (2005). Collaborative Teamwork with Unmanned Vehicles in Military Missions [Electronic version]. Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction.
15.
SaavedraR.EarleyP. C.Van DyneL. (1993). Complex interdependence in task-performing groups. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78(1), 61–72.
16.
SchusterD.FincannonT.JentschF.KeeblerJ.EvansA. W.III (2008). The role of spatial ability in the relationship between video game experience and route effectiveness among unmanned vehicle operators [Electronic version]. Proceedings of the 26th Annual Army Science Conference.
17.
TabachnickB.FidellL. (2007). Using multivariate statistics (4th Ed.). New York, NY: Pearson Education, Inc.
18.
WoodsD. D.TittleJ.FeilM.RoeslerA. (2004). Envisioning human-robot coordination in future operations. Systems, Man and Cybernetics, Part C, IEEE Transactions on, 34(2), 210–218.
