Human-Autonomy Teaming: Effects of Autonomy Level and UAV Integration on Operator Decision-Making

Sammanfattning

As autonomous systems become increasingly integrated into safety-critical operations,understanding how human operators collaborate with heterogeneous robot teamsis essential for effective system design. This thesis investigates how the level ofautomation (LOA) of an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) and the integration ofunmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) information influence operator state, performance,and decision-making in a human-UGV-UAV team.A controlled experiment was designed, varying UGV automation level —Assisted-Autonomous (AA-LOA), where the operator receives take-over requests(TORs), and Autonomous (A-LOA), where the system operates without operatorinput — and UAV information type — Conflicting or Non-Conflicting with theUGV sensor data. Thirty-three participants completed video-based simulations,representing logistics transport scenarios in which the UAV flew ahead of the UGVacting as a forward-looking sensor. Quantitative (e.g., operator response time,take-over probability, and eye-tracking gaze) and qualitative (e.g., mental workloadand observations) data was collected.Results show that AA-LOA significantly increases perceived responsibility comparedto A-LOA, without a corresponding increase in mental workload. Operatorsintegrated the UAV-view throughout the mission, and their subjective estimates ofUAV reliance closely matched that of the objective eye-tracking data.Conflicting UAV information increased the likelihood of manual intervention butdid not significantly extend decision time. Despite a 50% conflict rate, operatorsconsistently valued the UAV-view for its contextual overview and sense of safety.Demographic factors showed meaningful effects: gamers reported lower mentalworkload and trended toward faster decisions, while high driving frequency andstrong sense of direction were the strongest predictors of longer decision times andgreater confidence in own judgment during conflict scenarios.Based on these findings, 15 design guidelines were developed addressing LOAselection, transparency, UAV integration, and temporal awareness — includingUAV recap functionality and a time-delta indicator to help operators contextualizetemporally misaligned information. A dual-screen operator interface concept designimplementing these guidelines is presented. To conclude, the findings in this thesissuggests that assisted-autonomy combined with time-transparent UAV integrationprovides operators with the best conditions for effective situational awareness anddecision-making in heterogeneous human-autonomy systems.