Considerations for Task Allocation in Human-Robot Teams
This work addresses the problem of optimizing team performance in human-robot collaborations, but it is incremental as it primarily reviews and suggests future directions without presenting new results.
The paper reviews existing task allocation methods for human-robot teams, focusing on factors like agent capability and workload, and discusses areas for further consideration such as collaboration levels, novel tasks, and ethics.
In human-robot teams where agents collaborate together, there needs to be a clear allocation of tasks to agents. Task allocation can aid in achieving the presumed benefits of human-robot teams, such as improved team performance. Many task allocation methods have been proposed that include factors such as agent capability, availability, workload, fatigue, and task and domain-specific parameters. In this paper, selected work on task allocation is reviewed. In addition, some areas for continued and further consideration in task allocation are discussed. These areas include level of collaboration, novel tasks, unknown and dynamic agent capabilities, negotiation and fairness, and ethics. Where applicable, we also mention some of our work on task allocation. Through continued efforts and considerations in task allocation, human-robot teaming can be improved.