Helmut E. Knee

The Maintenance Personnel Performance Simulation (MAPPS) Model

A stochastic computer model for simulating the actions and behavior of nuclear power plant maintenance personnel is described. The model considers personnel, environmental, and motivational variables to yield predictions of maintenance performance quality and time to perform. The model has been fully developed and sensitivity tested. Additional evaluation of the model is now taking place.

Virtual Human: a diagnostic tool for human studies and health effects in the 21st century

The virtual human will be a research/simulation environment having an integrated system of biophysical models, data, and advanced computational algorithms. It will have a Web-based interface for easy, rapid access from several points of entry. The virtual human will serve as a platform for national and international users from governments, academia and industry to investigate the widest range of human biological and physical response to stimuli, be they biological, chemical, or physical. This effort will go far beyond the modeling of anatomy to incorporate refined computational models of whole-body processes, using mechanical and electrical tissue properties, and biology from physiology to biochemical information. The platform will respond mechanistically to varied and potentially iterative stimuli that can be visualized multi- dimensionally. This effort is in the formative stage of a several-year process that will lead to a program that is of similar proportion to the human genome, but will be much more computationally intensive. The main purpose of this paper is to communicate our early ideas about the philosophic basis of the program, to identify some of the applications for which the virtual human would be used, to elicit comments, and to provide a basis to identify prospective collaborators.

Integrated Operator-Plant Process Modeling and Decision Support for Allocation of Function

Human operator simulation models can play an important information role in the allocation of functions in person-machine systems. A prototype simulation model system developed at ORNL is described in which a human operator model (INTEROPS) and a nuclear power plant (NPP) process model are dynamically integrated. INTEROPS is a cognitive/ performance simulation model which is itself a dynamic integration of a SAINT task network model and a knowledge-based subsystem which reasons with uncertainty. Potential contributions of INTEROPS to NPP advanced control design are evaluated.

Utilization of a Reverse Systems Engineering Approach for the Assessment of Defendant's Positions in Product Liability Cases

A framework is described which addresses a number of behavioral and systems engineering parameters. The integration of these elements is described as a systematic tool for examination of accident situations.

Vehicle intelligence and implications for robotics

Significant progress has been made with regard to bringing vehicle intelligence (VI) technologies into passenger, commercial, and military ground vehicles. Very few of these technologies, however, directly impact vehicle control systems; and although the U.S. Department of Transportations (DOTs) Automated Highway System (AHS) portion of its Intelligent Systems (ITS) Program, successfully demonstrated fully-automated driving in August, 1997, most of the ITS technologies developed to date have focused on driver warning/information systems. The U.S. Department of Defenses (DODs) Army Vehicle Intelligence Program (AVIP) is capitalizing on the lessons learned from DOTs ITS Program, and will push the envelope for selected technologies, including issues of vehicle control. As VI impinges more heavily on vehicle control, it will be beneficial to consider more closely the relationship between VI and robotics. Because a significant amount of data related to the driver, vehicle, and driving environment are already captured and managed by on-board VI systems, a rich database of information is available that would be of value for automating (or roboticizing) driver/driving functions and tasks. This paper will discuss some state-of-the-art VI technologies and will suggest how greater benefits could be achieved by examining the relationship between VI and robotics.