Human control in mixed-initiative systems: lessons from the MICA-SHARC program

Mixed-initiative frameworks represent one of several different flavors of system design that seek to institute an effective division of labor between automated functionality and human user. A mixed-initiative design must satisfy several different requirements, chief among them that they promote efficient and effective interactions between users and machines. To do so necessitates a careful study of user, system, and context of intended use, in order that functions may be allocated appropriately and interfaces that facilitate human-machine communication may be developed. As part of DARPA´s MICA program, we have been working to define roles, information requirements, and visual interfaces for the users of future controllers of multiple unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs). In this paper we describe the process that we have followed thus far in our attempts to understand the human component of this specific future mixed-initiative system.