Research Project

Team Communication: Understanding the environmental factors affecting communication patterns in human-robot teams

Research Team

Lead Researchers

Ellie Kazemi: ARCS Co-PI, CSUN professor, directly supervise ARCS Fellows
Nhut Ho: ARCS Director, CSUN Professor, advise team
Li Liu: ARCS Associate Director, CSUN Assistant Professor, advise team
Amiel Harman: ARCS/CSUN faculty

Collaborators:

Amir Rahmani: primary JPL contact, directly involved in the development of work
Suzanne Sheld: ARCS Co-PI, collaborator
Kevin Zemlicka: ARCS Co-PI, collaborator
Gina Masequesmay: ARCS Co-PI, collaborator

Student Team:

An An Chang
Eric McCoy
Helina Mekonnen
Adisa Ptah

Funding

Funding Organization: NASA
Funding Program: MUREP-MIRO

Abstract

Team communication has been shown to affect team performance. Current literature is limited to human-human teamwork and self-reported experiential surveys. One study examined breakdowns in communication among remote teams, but the form of communication was textual rather than vocal. In the project, we will be examining the vocal transcript of the team’s communication during the course of the mission to identify what people are communicating, when people are communicating, who people are communicating with, and how frequently someone is communicating. This study would add to current literature by identifying how central and decentralized communication affect remote vocal team communication.

Motivation/Research Problem

Communication is key for effective team collaboration. There is an extensive research on the different factors that affect communications and ways to optimize communications to boost team performance. Diaim et al. (2012) found that virtual interactions increase the likelihood of miscommunication, because communication partners are unable to take into consideration the other’s body language; they recommended increasing communication. Similarly, Su (2012) found that the more communication among a team, the faster each individual member can identify the right person to ask for help, increasing the efficiency of problem solving. However, more communication is not always necessarily better. Liang et al. (2010) noted that increase in communication benefits teams working in uncertain environments, where constant new information changes the tasks; however, increase in communication can slow down team communication for teams who are working in relatively certain environments, where there is not much new information that affects the task at hand. Furthermore, Liang and colleagues (2010) explained that centrality of communication, how evenly information is shared among the team, matters: decentralized communication, where information is evenly distributed, benefits teams working in high-pace environments; and centralized communication, where information is funneled to select members, benefits those who desire stronger control over the overall team. The only literature found was the literature review that examined when and how team communication breakdowns were done on typed textual communication rather than vocal verbal communication (Kwak & Blackburn, 2014).

Alignment, Engagement and Contributions to the priorities of NASA’s Mission Directorates

Inter-team collaboration is crucial for the success of NASA and JPL missions. Efficient communication among teams requires all teams and team members to be accurate and succinct when sharing information. There is extensive research on best practices for human team communications in order to achieve desired team performance, but it is unclear how human-robot team dynamics affect team communication. Furthermore, previous studies often depended on surveys to collect information on team communication. This study would add to the current literature by studying real-time team communication during a human-robot team mission. This study would add to current literature by identifying how central and decentralized communication affect remote vocal team communication.

Research Questions and Research Objectives

The purpose of the study is to learn when and how team communication breaks down for teams with centralized communication versus decentralized communication in a human-robot team environment. This study would add to current literature by identifying how central and decentralized communication affect remote vocal team communication.

Research Methods

We will be reviewing each team’s time-stamped transcripts and visualizing the frequency of communication across the duration of the mission. Kwak & Blackburn (2014) have found communication to change across different stages of the mission (e.g., preparation, start, middle, end, and post-mission). We will divide our mission into 3 stages: searching, overcoming obstacles, and completing the last objective, then evaluate the changes in communication patterns across the stages. In addition, we will count the frequency of communication per individual member and map the frequency of communication between team members by counting each instance of speaker-listener response. We will collect the same data across the different team architectures and team sizes.

Research Deliverables and Products

Internal to the project, we have already produced:

A list of features of interest identified by key stakeholders
The Proteus compiler, including example usage and documentation
Some existing HSM-based software ported to Proteus
Next steps for extending Proteus

From the last reflective journal, the following internal deliverables were planned:

Use cases derived from ScalaHSM and TextHSM implemented in Proteus, along with the results of their application on Proteus relative to ScalaHSM and TextHSM (carry-over of 3 from before)
A built-in system for runtime fault monitoring and response, which is to handle faults that either cannot be, or cannot easily be, statically prevented
Support for typeclasses
Support for basic data structures
Next steps for extending Proteus (a perpetual process, carried over from the last time)

With #1, we changed the deliverable a bit to include any HSM-based software (instead of just ScalaHSM and TextHSM), which widens scope of what is relevant. We are actively working on this now, and have already ported some software from JPL. With #2, a runtime fault monitoring system has been completed and is part of Proteus. With #3 and #4, these portions are partially implemented, but incomplete. #3 and #4 need project leads, and #1 currently has higher priority. #5 is ongoing.

Publications

Since the last reflective journal, SMC-IT has been identified as an appropriate peer-reviewed venue. Our prior AIAA ASCEND conference paper was reworked for SMC-IT, and was ultimately accepted. We are working on the camera-ready version of the SMC-IT paper now.

Presentations

Since the last reflective journal, there have been no conference presentations. A conference presentation is planned for SMC-IT, possibly by Brian McClelland. Some students who were previously on the project (Simran Gill, Eileen Quiroz, and Frank Serdenia) gave a presentation at the AIMS^2 Student Research Symposium regarding work they performed on Proteus during Summer 2020 (internal to CSUN). Additionally, Rebecca Carbone and Kennedy Johnson have presented on their Proteus work twice internal to ARCS, once during the ARCS seminar series and once with JPL stakeholders.

Other

Brian McClelland completed his MS thesis, which specifically concerned Proteus.

Research Timeline

Start Date: January 2021
End Date: December 2021