Automatic machines or smart robots are interconnected with distributed knowledge bases by nation- or world wide digital networks. They are supporting human life in various places, at the same time saving energy and resources. Technology and economic development are effecting rapid changes depending on the fields, regions and culture to the way people interact with the systems, while sometimes keeping, otherwise forsaking their own traditions. Man machine systems have to create new interaction styles between human and machine intelligence, support cooperation among different organizations and enhance situation understanding for the long and short term, or remote and local activities regarding performance, safety, security and satisfaction. The seventh IFAC/IFIP/IFORS/IEA symposium on Analysis, Design and Evaluation of Man-Machine Systems was held in Kyoto on September 16-18, 1998. At the symposium, 99 papers were presented including four plenary papers among 131 submissions.

This book, on the ergonomics of human−machine systems, is aimed at engineers specializing in informatics, automation, production or robotics, who are faced with a significant dilemma during the conception of human−machine systems. On the one hand, the human operator guarantees the reliability of the system and has been known to salvage numerous critical situations through an ability to reason in unplanned, imprecise and uncertain situations; on the other hand, the human operator can be unpredictable and create disturbances in the automated system. The first part of the book is dedicated to the methods of human-centered design, from three different points of view, the various chapters focusing on models developed by human engineers and functional models to explain human behavior in their environment, models of cognitive psychology and models in the domain of automobile driving. Part 2 develops the methods of evaluation of the human−machine systems, looking at the evaluation of the activity of the human operator at work and human error analysis methods. Finally, Part 3 is dedicated to human−machine cooperation, where the authors show that a cooperative agent comprises a know-how and a so-called know-how-to-cooperate and show the way to design and evaluate that cooperation in real industrial contexts.

Cooperative systems design requires a deep understanding of the cooperative work of groups and organizations. The papers included in this book draw from an empirical background including studies in healthcare, homecare, software-development, architectural design, marine insurance industry and learning in university settings.

The Handbook of Human-Machine Interaction features 20 original chapters and a conclusion focusing on human-machine interaction (HMI) from analysis, design and evaluation perspectives. It offers a comprehensive range of principles, methods, techniques and tools to provide the reader with a clear knowledge of the current academic and industry practice and debate that define the field. The text considers physical, cognitive, social and emotional aspects and is illustrated by key application domains such as aerospace, automotive, medicine and defence. Above all, this volume is designed as a research guide that will both inform readers on the basics of human-machine interaction from academic and industrial perspectives and also provide a view ahead at the means through which human-centered designers, including engineers and human factors specialists, will attempt to design and develop human-machine systems.

This is the second volume in the HCI International Conference Proceedings 2003. See following arrangement for details.