Demonstration of the “Work Models that Compute” Simulation Framework for Objective Function Allocation

Abstract

This document describes a demonstration of the computational simulation framework Work Models that Compute (WMC). WMC is a framework for the objective evaluation of function allocation between humans and robots. The WMC framework has been used to study the impact of function allocation on both the air traffic management and spacecraft operations work domains. Recent advances include modeling of human-robot control modes, locomotion, failures and physical resources. We propose a demonstration of WMC showcasing how WMC can provide useful, objective and quantitative insight in the trade-offs asso-ciated with function allocation. In the demonstration, we will analyze function allocation for an on-orbit maintenance scenario. We will first show how minor changes to a function allocations can have major ef-fects on the emergent work patterns that result from the simulation framework. Second, we will demon-strate an analysis of 10-15 possible function allocations (defined in advance) and cross-compare their char-acteristics based on measures such as the idle time, taskload for each agent, information transfer require-ments, physical resources exchanges and others. This will show the framework’s capability to rapidly ex-plore the function allocation trade-space and allow the designer to make more informed trade-offs.