Human interactive machine learning for trust in teams of autonomous robots

Unmanned systems are increasing in number, while their manning requirements remain the same. To decrease manpower demands, machine learning techniques and autonomy are gaining traction and visibility. One barrier is human perception and understanding of autonomy. Machine learning techniques can result in “black box” algorithms that may yield high fitness, but poor comprehension by operators. However, Interactive Machine Learning (IML), a method to incorporate human input over the course of algorithm development by using neuro-evolutionary machine-learning techniques, may offer a solution. IML is evaluated here for its impact on developing autonomous team behaviors in an area search task. Initial findings show that IML-generated search plans were chosen over plans generated using a non-interactive ML technique, even though the participants trusted them slightly less. Further, participants discriminated each of the two types of plans from each other with a high degree of accuracy, suggesting the IML approach imparts behavioral characteristics into algorithms, making them more recognizable. Together the results lay the foundation for exploring how to team humans successfully with ML behavior.