Technical University Berlin

This course examines the field of human factors. First, the theoretical groundwork (human perception and performance, design principles, and trust in automation) is laid and participants gain first practical insights into complex socio-technical systems. Afterward, students team up to put the theoretical foundation into the real world, examining typical challenges in human-automation interaction. The course consists of a holistic research process from the development of the research question to the presentation of the results. Thereby, the investigated technologies can vary broadly (e.g. humanoid robots, mobile applications, navigation devices, or websites). The course discusses topics including human information processing and action selection as well as accompanying limitations; common methods to analyze and optimize typical human factors problems; evaluation methods for human- machine-interaction in the context of user-centered design; fundamentals of Cognitive Engineering; human information processing and action selection; display design & usability; human-automation interaction; human-robot interaction; joint specification of the research technology and question; consolidation and application; and social and ethical issues in human-machine Interaction.