Abstract
Automation technology can bring numerous benefits to manual labor in organizations. However, in practice, disentangling how the evolving automated systems will transform human roles remains challenging, necessitating further exploration of task delegation regarding which tasks can (or can’t) be delegated to automated systems. Building on prior research, our study investigates the perspectives of operators and decision-makers involved in automation projects, specifically focusing on Passenger Boarding Bridges in airport airside operations. By conducting six in-depth interviews, we identified twelve themes that emerged across four dimensions, highlighting practical considerations for task delegation between humans and automated systems. The empirical findings indicate that high-precision tasks are suitable for delegation to automated systems, whereas tasks involving clear communication and meticulous inspection are better suited for humans to lead. The research offers practical insights for task delegation, contributing to design research in human-centered considerations when implementing automation in practice.
Keywords
autonomous process; task delegation; airport; passenger boarding bridge
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2024.872
Citation
Joo, J., Gomez-Beldarrain, G., Kim, E., and Verma, H. (2024) Transition towards automatic Passenger Boarding Bridge: Themes of task delegation for autonomous airport operations, in Gray, C., Ciliotta Chehade, E., Hekkert, P., Forlano, L., Ciuccarelli, P., Lloyd, P. (eds.), DRS2024: Boston, 23–28 June, Boston, USA. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2024.872
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Research Paper
Included in
Transition towards automatic Passenger Boarding Bridge: Themes of task delegation for autonomous airport operations
Automation technology can bring numerous benefits to manual labor in organizations. However, in practice, disentangling how the evolving automated systems will transform human roles remains challenging, necessitating further exploration of task delegation regarding which tasks can (or can’t) be delegated to automated systems. Building on prior research, our study investigates the perspectives of operators and decision-makers involved in automation projects, specifically focusing on Passenger Boarding Bridges in airport airside operations. By conducting six in-depth interviews, we identified twelve themes that emerged across four dimensions, highlighting practical considerations for task delegation between humans and automated systems. The empirical findings indicate that high-precision tasks are suitable for delegation to automated systems, whereas tasks involving clear communication and meticulous inspection are better suited for humans to lead. The research offers practical insights for task delegation, contributing to design research in human-centered considerations when implementing automation in practice.