Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society

The acceptance of novel office automation devices and systems depends primarily on their potential for increasing productivity and their ease of use. This paper discusses the technology and ergonomics of several new office automation devices. Four major office interactions are noted: transacting, documenting, elephoning, and meeting. For each, human factors characteristics are examined to provide an understanding of which systems can most easily be incorporated into existing office environments. Systems design methodologies, originally developed for military use, will find increasing utility for solving complex civilian problems. There is now a need to apply this methodology to the design of equipment, tasks, and systems. More research is needed to increase our understanding of office automation and how it may be implemented. Particularly important are comparative field studies of office tasks and office automation devices and systems.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is concerned with the symbol-manipulation processes that produce intelligent action; that is, acts that are arrived at by intelligible reasoning steps that are guided by knowledge of a particular domain. AI areas relevant to human factors and automation include expert systems, natural-language understanding, and intelligent robotics. These topics are reviewed and illustrated. Potential contributions of human factors research to AI are briefly described.

A systematic approach for allocating functions to humans and machines has been an elusive goal of human factors specialists for more than 30 years. The author has fortunately been able to obtain contract support for reviewing the earlier techniques and methods in the literature and deriving “lessons learned” to guide the development of the approach reported here. The approach is believed to be systematic and embedded in the overall system design process. This paper describes the systems approach to design and how the allocation of functions is a part of it, as a five-step procedure with four principal rules for arriving at a hypothetical allocation.

This paper describes a study that explored human capabilities in supervisory control of a flexible manufacturing system (FMS). Implications of current design strategies concerning the human supervisory role in FMSs are discussed. Also examined are issues in human supervisory control that arise from features characteristic of these types of automated systems. A real-time interactive simulation methodology is described that served as the basis for evaluating human performance. Results are explained in terms of two frameworks: (1) one that incorporated hypothetical dimensions of the mental workload construct into various task conditions; and (2) a simple decision-making model intrinsic to which was the imposition on the human of a relatively well-defined locus of control. The effectiveness of graphics was evaluated as a decision-support device aimed at enhancing human pattern-recognition capabilities.

Computer-based training and education are becoming increasingly prevalent and important. This article discusses the history of automated instruction, current applications, issues and problems, and future prospects. Current applications include such traditional uses of computers as testing, drills, tutorials, games, simulations, and student management. New applications include embedded training, computer literacy, interactive videodisc, and electronic lectures. The most important issue in automated instruction at present is the time and costs associated with the development of courseware. Other important problems include the difficulty of implementing individualized instruction in organizations accustomed to classroom teaching, the scarcity of educators who are computer literate, and the evaluation of courseware. Microcomputers have greatly accelerated the growth of computer-based instruction in all domains. Intelligent CAI, authoring systems, hand-held computers, speech processing, and telecommunication technologies such as videotex are seen as shaping the future direction of automated instruction.

The rapid advance of cockpit automation, enabled by microprocessor technology and motivated by the quest for safer and more efficient flight, has both its supporters and its detractors. Even the supporters tend to view the march toward computer-directed flight as a mixed blessing. Certain dramatic accidents and incidents in recent years, as well as the destruction of Korean Airlines Flight 007, have been interpreted by many as automation induced. Many of the critics outside of the aviation community, journalists, and the general public, have harped on the negative side of flight-deck automation without recognizing its positive aspects. The author advances the view that the time-honored recommendation that humans should serve as monitors of automatic devices must be reconsidered, and that the human must be brought back into a more active role in the control loop, aided by decision support systems.

The process of designing the user interfaces for an industrial spray-painting robot manufactured by the Nordson Corporation is described in the form of a case history. Human factors engineering was applied to the design of the system control panel, to a control grip on a special version of the robot's arm used in programming the system, and to the specialized microcomputer operating system used to manage the task of programming, monitoring, and operating the system.

Automation as a process of supplanting humans or combinations of humans and devices with devices or other human-device combinations has many aspects and effects on individuals. To provide a comprehensive view of this complex domain, these aspects and effects are set forth in two frameworks. To suggest generalizations, comparisons are offered between factory and office automation, with examples of similarities and differences.