Human-machine cooperation and supervisory control of automated processes

Supervision of highly automated processes is an interdisciplinary research area. Knowledge in the fields of automation, process knowledge, machine engineering, "work post" ergonomics, cognitive ergonomics, working psychology and sociology, are necessary to design efficient supervisory systems. This is because supervision is an activity in which human being, despite the increasing automation of the last years, is still present. In this paper we show how some theoretical works about human-machine cooperation can be used to design advanced human adapted supervisory systems (AHASS). We present two applications of this theoretical work on human-machine cooperation to the design of AHASS. The first application concerns air traffic control, a process with a low level of automation (LOA). The second application deals with a process with a high LOA - a nuclear fuel reprocessing system.