Situation Awareness and Task Performance in Robot-Assisted Technical Search: Bujold Goes to Bridgeport

This article reports on a field study conducted in 2002 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where 28 multi-operator single robot (MOSR) teams were videotaped as they teleoperated a rescue robot through an apartment in a collapsed building in search of a victim mannequin. Team communication analysis was conducted using the Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue Coding Scheme (RASAR-CS), in conjunction with the administration of three instruments measuring situation awareness and task performance. The major findings were that 1) rescuer teams with high situation awareness operators were 9 times more likely to find victims than rescue teams with low situation awareness operators, and scored 26% higher on ratings of task performance; 2) operators spent 63% of their time on perceiving and comprehending (SA Level 1 and 2 activities), and only 28% on planning, projecting and problem-solving (SA Level 3 activities); 3) the shared mental model held by the robot operator and tether manager consisted of at least three distinct types of knowledge: the environment, the robot’s situatedness, and search strategy. The study validates a computational model of SA formation in MOSR teams, which is expected to serve as a foundation for artificial intelligence methods in awareness. The results also suggest that major advances are needed in sensors and sensor interpretation to facilitate lower level SA activities so that the operator will more rapidly have a higher level SA; and that ways (e.g., training, software agents) must be found to facilitate appropriate communication to support productive team processes.