Automation-Adoption Approach Maps Human/System Interaction
Authors: Carpenter Chris 
Published: January 2019

This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights of paper SPE 191408, “Automating Directional Drilling: Technology-Adoption Staircase Mapping Levels of Human Interaction,” by Robert Wylie, SPE, xnDrilling; Kevin McClard, Performance Drilling Technologies; and John de Wardt, SPE, De Wardt and Company, prepared for the 2018 SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Dallas, 24–26 September. The paper has not been peer reviewed.

This paper describes the progress of directional-drilling-automation systems along the cognitive functions and levels of automation as defined by the Levels of Automation Taxonomy (LOAT) hierarchy introduced by the Drilling Systems Automation Roadmap Industry Initiative. LOAT is based on incremental automation of the four cognitive functions of interaction. Levels of human/system interaction are described on a nine-point scale ranging from fully manual, to levels of system support for the human, to levels of automation overseen by the human, to full automation.

The LOAT Hierarchy

LOAT is a powerful tool for mapping the transition from a purely manual process, to the degree of automation that any system can achieve in the early transition phase, through a timeline to full automation. The transition levels from manual to autonomous were likened to the four cognitive functions that occur in both human interaction with machinery and automated interaction with machinery. These four functions, based on a staged model of human information processing, were translated into equivalent sequential functions applicable to both human processing and automated processing. These functions are

Information acquisition

Information analysis

Decision and action selection

Action implementation

Automation is often perceived as automation of the action-sequence execution, the implementation of the decision for action by a robot or robotic mechanism. In reality, it is easier and more reliable to apply degrees of automation to the information-acquisition and information-analysis cognitive functions of the control process before decision-making and certainly before action-sequence execution.

In a first phase of automation implementation, the automated system acquires the data and undertakes an analysis of its information. The output from this process in many automated systems is typically in the form of alarms designed to attract the attention of the human overseers. However, challenges are inherent in this process: Does the human receiving the alarm believe the alarm is real and relevant, and, if so, does the human react to the alarm effectively by making a good decision and then implementing the appropriate action as a consequence of that decision? Drilling case studies often describe human indecision and failure to act in a timely manner as a cause of catastrophic events.

The human/machine interface is the point at which the system displays to the human the situation and the human reacts and provides input through control devices. In a purely manual mode, systems simply display data that the human analyzes and uses to decide on and implement action. In staged automated modes, the system is designed to advance the automated collection and processing of data. Initially, the data are presented to the human operator to prompt a decision and implementation of an action. In the next stage, the system provides advice on which action should be taken.