Presentation
Exoplanet Explorer: An Open-Source Educational Video Game for Teaching Human–Autonomy Teaming
DescriptionAs autonomous systems become more integrated into our sociotechnical systems, effective collaboration between humans and intelligent agents has become a growing focus for designers, engineers, and human factors practitioners. However, teaching these concepts remains difficult, as students rarely have the opportunity to directly interact with autonomous teammates.
This demonstration introduces Exoplanet Explorer, an open-source educational video game designed to teach Human–Autonomy Teaming (HAT). In the game, players act as mission supervisors coordinating autonomous robots exploring a distant planet. By assigning tasks, monitoring system behavior, and adapting strategies in a dynamic environment, participants experience firsthand how humans and autonomous agents can work together.
The game was developed to support the learning of Interdependence Analysis, a key method for identifying teaming requirements such as observability, predictability, and directability. Classroom use suggests that interactive gameplay helps students better understand these concepts by allowing them to test assumptions, observe system behavior, and iteratively refine their reasoning.
During this demonstration, attendees will be able to download the game on their laptop and see by themselves how changes in autonomy and information affect collaboration, highlighting the potential of interactive environments for HAT education and research.
This demonstration introduces Exoplanet Explorer, an open-source educational video game designed to teach Human–Autonomy Teaming (HAT). In the game, players act as mission supervisors coordinating autonomous robots exploring a distant planet. By assigning tasks, monitoring system behavior, and adapting strategies in a dynamic environment, participants experience firsthand how humans and autonomous agents can work together.
The game was developed to support the learning of Interdependence Analysis, a key method for identifying teaming requirements such as observability, predictability, and directability. Classroom use suggests that interactive gameplay helps students better understand these concepts by allowing them to test assumptions, observe system behavior, and iteratively refine their reasoning.
During this demonstration, attendees will be able to download the game on their laptop and see by themselves how changes in autonomy and information affect collaboration, highlighting the potential of interactive environments for HAT education and research.
Contributor
Event Type
Demonstration
TimeWednesday, October 21st5pm - 5:30pm PDT
Location