David Kaber
Location: (Raleigh, NC)
Personal Research Web Page: http://people.engr.ncsu.edu/dbkaber/
Keywords: cognitive engineering; human-computer interaction; human-robot interaction; situation awareness in complex systems control; multi-modal/intelligent interface design; virtual reality design; computational cognitive modeling for human performance prediction
Posted on: Wednesday, May 20th, 2009
Broad Research Area: HCI / CSCW
Research Interests:
My previous research has focused on aviation related human factors studies, including pilot-automation interaction in the commercial aircraft cockpit and adaptive automation of information processing functions in ATC (air traffic control)-related tasks. NASA funded these projects. I also received a NSF career award for study of , “Telepresence in Teleoperations,” the experience of remote presence in immersive virtual environments. This research identified design factors in virtual reality influential in perceptions of presence and user performance with virtual environments as interfaces to real telerobotic systems.
–
My current projects in the aviation domain include development of measures and models of cockpit display clutter for predicting pilot information overload and as basis for optimizing display content to promote situation awareness. I am also conducting research on the use of computational cognitive models for predicting pilot behavior (errors) with various forms of cockpit automation under high workload scenarios. Cognitive models are to be used to assess the workload and performance effects of futuristic forms of automation and provide avionics designers with early design stage guidance. NASA also funds these projects.
–
My current NSF research projects include study of haptic control device use in virtual reality–based simulations for rehabilitation and training of motor control skills. This project involves working with special populations that have experienced some form of traumatic brain injury. The objective is to optimize haptic simulation design from the perspective of user skill training requirements and not simply fidelity. Another NSF project that I recently completed involved study of human interaction with life sciences automation, specifically supervisory control of highly automated and robot-assisted chemical screening lines for biotechnology development. Cognitive modeling techniques were also used in this project to assess the usability of new intelligent interface designs for supporting high time-stress operations. This remains an area of interest for me.
–
Other student projects that are on going in my lab focus on the driving domain and human-robot interaction in healthcare environments. Recent experiments have examined the effects of individual characteristics on driving task performance and situation awareness under hazardous conditions, as well as the influence of motivational factors and social norms in driving behavior on perceived vehicle safety margins. Previous lab research in this area has included assessing the effects of advanced vehicle automation and in-vehicle devices on driver distraction, as well as modeling of driver situation awareness in operational, tactical and strategic driving tasks. The human-robot interaction studies have included design of etiquette strategies for hospital service robots in patient medicine delivery tasks and identification of robot physical features promoting the sense of humanness in social interaction. Our prior work in this area has involved computational cognitive modeling of human teleoperation of mobile robots in navigation and driving.
Contact Information:
dbkaber@ncsu.edu; 919-515-3086; http://www.ise.ncsu.edu/kaber/index.html
