Manual Control Cybernetics: State-of-the-Art and Current Trends

Abstract

Abstract-Manual control cybernetics aims to understand and describe how humans control vehicles and devices using mathematical models of human control dynamics. This 'cybernetic approach' enables objective and quantitative comparisons of human behavior, and allows a systematic optimization of human control interfaces and training associated with manual control. Current cybernetics theory is primarily based on technology and analysis methods formalized in the 1960s and has shown to be limited in its capability to capture the full breadth of human cognition and control. This paper reviews the current state-of-the-art in our knowledge of human manual control, points out the main fundamental limitations in cybernetics, and proposes a possible roadmap to advance the theory and its applications. Central in this roadmap will be a shift from the current linear time-invariant modeling approach that is only truly valid for human behavior under tightly controlled and stationary conditions, to methods that facilitate the analysis of adaptive, and possibly time-varying, human behavior in realistic control tasks. Examples of key current developments in the field of cybernetics -human use of preview, predictable discrete maneuvering, skill acquisition and training, time-varying human modeling, and neuromuscular system modeling -that contribute to this shift are presented in this paper. The new foundations for cybernetics that will emerge from these efforts will impact all domains that involve humans in manual and semi-automatic control.

Effects of Preview Time in Manual Tracking Tasks

“…Task characteristics (or variables) such as the Controlled Element (CE) dynamics and target trajectory bandwidth also evoke HC behavior adaptations [12], [13], and influence the effects of preview, including the critical time [5], [14]. Attempts to quantify the effects of preview time through control-theoretic modeling of driver steering [1], [15]- [18] and manual tracking [2], [3], [5], [19] account for HCs' use of preview in fundamentally different ways.…”

“…This already led to an initial set of "verbal adjustment rules" that cover HC adaptation to the CE dynamics in preview tracking tasks [14]. Unfortunately, we currently lack the understanding and experimental data that are required to formulate similar rules for the effects of other task variables, such as available preview time [13].…”

Effects of Target Signal Shape and System Dynamics on Feedforward in Manual Control

“…These simulations, however consider only the HC in steady-state, with fixed controlled element dynamics. Studying the HC response and adaptation to (sudden) changes in system dynamics, like from stable to unstable dynamics, would require a fundamentally different approach, and reaches beyond the state-of-the-art in cybernetics tools and methods [25]; it is one of the main avenues of future research.…”

Adaptive Human Pilot Model for Uncertain Systems

“…Since A hp and B hp are unknown, θ x and λ need to be estimated. The closed loop dynamics can be obtained using (5) and (15) aṡ…”

“…One of the first human models in aeronautics is proposed by McRuer in [11] as a quasi-linear model which can be used in closed loop stability analysis [12]. In [13], [14] and [15], it is emphasized that every control intention has to be translated to a body movement by the neuromuscular system, and a transfer function model is proposed illustrating this observation. Crossover model, another human pilot model defined in [16], is motivated from the empirical observation that human pilots adapt their responses in such a way that the overall open loop system dynamics resembles that of a welldesigned feedback system.…”