Towards Adaptive Worker Assistance in Monitoring Tasks

Due to the introduction of more and more new technologies into the work environment, the role of the worker often changes from executing a task to monitoring an automated system. Monitoring tasks, however, can induce high levels of mental workload and thus lead to a decrease in the worker’s performance and consequently to an increase in the risk of making serious errors. A promising solution to this problem is the use of assistance systems (AS). As the worker still remains responsible for an error-free operation of the automated system, the AS should be designed human-centered. Hence, it is crucial, to examine the psychological factors that influence the user’s acceptance of the AS in order to ensure a successful longterm human-machine collaboration. A concept for a human-centered AS for a monitoring task is presented. Thereby, different assistance types and strategies as well as methods to determine the right point of time to apply these strategies during the task are looked at. Finally, challenges for the development of such an AS are discussed and possible solutions are proposed.