Providing user models direct access to interfaces: An exploratory study of a simple interface with implications for HRI and HCI

Models of users are a way to understand and improve the usability of computer interfaces. We present here a model in ACT-R cognitive-modeling language that interacts with a publicly available driving simulation as a simple analog for robot interfaces. The model interacts with the unmodified Java interface by incorporating a novel use of bitmap parsing. The model's structure starts to describe the knowledge a human operator of a robot must have. The model also indicates some of the aspects of the task will be difficult for the operator. For example, the model's performance makes quantitative predictions about how robot speed will influence navigation quality, correlating well to human performance. While the model does not cover all aspects of human-robot interaction, it illustrates how providing user models access to an interface through its bitmap can lead to more accurate and more widely applicable model users.