Human Factors in Discovery Phase of TRLs and HRLs

Abstract

With rapid growth in technology, there has been a corresponding growth in research focused on the ways that human-machine interactions can be improved. As part of that work, researchers have explored how human expertise can inform technology design and evaluation. For example, interaction with subject matter experts (SMEs) or end users can help to design and enhance a machine. The human factors of technology release can be divided into five steps: discovery, planning, development, evaluation, and deployment. This framework is a higher-level abstraction of the Human Readiness Levels for technology use and adoption (See et al. 2018). In this exposition, we discuss how human factors methodologies, principles, and practices can be realized in the first phase, Discovery, of the technology development process.