Human-Centred Design of AI Agents in Underwater Maritime Vessels

It is highly likely that control rooms within future underwater maritime vessels (such as submarines) will increasingly utilise sophisticated Artificial Intelligence (AI) agents that aim to support teams in their working tasks, for example in navigation for the boat. The use of such additional 'team member/s' raises a myriad of complex Human Factors issues related to human-computer trust relationships, workload management, decision-making processes, and so on.

It is therefore imperative that research is conducted to allow all 'team members', humans and computers alike, to work together in the most productive and trusting way.

This PhD project will focus on how an AI agent could be designed in this context to be a valued and trusted team member - utilising monitoring sensors to assess user state - and exploring the interaction design principles required. This research is aiming to explore how humans and computers can work together in the most productive and trusting way, taking advantage of AI informed machine guidance and innovative user interaction.

Moreover, it needs to be understood how such AI agents need to be designed to naturally 'fit' into a team. One design variable of particular interest will be anthropomorphism, that is, the extent to which the agent utilises human-like qualities (in voice and visual form).