A Unifying Framework for Human-Agent Collaborative Systems - Part II: Design Procedure and Application

The human-agent collaboration (HAC) is a prospective research topic, whose great applications and future scenarios have attracted vast attention. It is very important to understand the design process of the HAC system (HACS). Inspired by the systematic analysis framework presented in Part I of this dual publication, this article proposes a normalized two-phase procedure, namely, GET-MAN, for the top-level design of HACS from the perspective of system engineering. The two-phase design procedure can produce a coherent and well-running HACS by sophisticatedly and properly determining the six elements of the HACS and their influences. In the verification phase of GET-MAN, by applying the formalized HACS framework proposed in Part I, a formal model can be constructed to look ahead (predict) and back (explain) at potential faults in the candidate HACS. An example of the HACS design for target searching is employed to illustrate the use of the GET-MAN design procedure. The potential challenges and future research directions are discussed in the light of the GET-MAN design procedure. The systematic analysis framework, Part I, as well as the GET-MAN design procedure, Part II, can serve as common guidance and reference for analyzing and developing various HACSs.