The Signatures of Success in Human-Agent Teams

In the US Military, Army squads continue to be the decisive force (Brown, 2011). Squads are cohesive groups of 6 to 10 soldiers who tackle focused engagements ranging from peacekeeping to provincial reconstruction. The central role of the squad to a variety of military engagements has made teamwork capabilities a cornerstone of military science for decades (National Research Council, 2014). Now, as the digital era transforms the basic nature of work, nowhere are the possibilities of human-agent collaboration greater than in military squads (DeCostanza, Marathe, Bohannon, Evans, Palazzolo, Metcalfe, & McDowell, 2018). Rapid technological advances offer new ways to augment human collaboration making military engagements safer and more effective. Realizing this vision will require foundational advances to understand the affective, cognitive, and behavioral underpinnings of effective human-agent interaction and human-human interaction that is conditioned by the presence of agentic technologies. Simply put, how do individuals and agents interact effectively, and, how do individuals interact effectively with each other when they are augmented by technologies? This project leverages research on team effectiveness, human-robot interaction, and event network analysis to explore this question.