Mixed-initiative Approaches in the Design of a trusted shift of Coordination Forms: Supporting Collaboration to handle Imperfect Partners

In this paper, we discuss principles for designing collaboration among human and future non-human intelligent collaborators (NICs), focusing on interdependence and emergent dynamics of work flow. We discuss a dynamic coordination concept, where multiple military teams collaborate in support of Joint targeting, (JT) partly (and in some of the cases) together with autonomous capabilities (i.e. agents and vehicles). We argue that effective tactical actions requires shift of coordination forms, i.e. who is enacting coordination functions, which in military terminology command and control (C2) terminology is formalized as coordination authority. Coordination forms could shift from decentralized (e.g. NICs operate in swarms with little control from human teammates) to centralized (e.g. there is extensive control from the human teammate and the NIC follow predefined trajectories). We discuss how to elicit experiences of such coordination from simulated missions where human teammates and/or NICs have had to make choices of coordination form. We formulate a set of hypotheses remaining to be empirically analyzed. However, according to prior research, we may already now indicate that the interdependencies could become increasingly complex during action phases of complex missions, and need tooling. We draw on collaboration research investigating socio-technical systems where machine teammates collaborate with human teammates to achieve a common goal.