Self-Adaptation and Human-Machine Teaming

The MAPE-K feedback loop is a well-adopted reference model for managing and controlling autonomous and self-adaptive systems, and its use has enabled significant advances in autonomous systems over the past decades, for example, in areas such as autonomous driving and traffic management, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Smart Home and IoT applications, and assistive robots.

In CPS, Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) and Human-on-the-Loop (HOTL) approaches play critical roles in ensuring system adaptability, safety, and human oversight. HITL involves active human participation in system processes, where humans directly influence the system by providing input, or making real-time decisions. On the other hand, HOTL refers to a supervisory role where humans oversee the autonomous operation of the CPS but only intervene when necessary, often through alerts or system flags.

Given technological advances in autonomic computing, a more advanced form of collaboration, referred to as Human Machine Teaming (HMT) has emerged, emphazising interactions, partnership, and teamwork between humans and machines.

To provide support for combining HMT and self-adaptation paradimgs, we are developing different approaches, frameworks and architectures for CPS adapation and HMT.