OTTRS Speaker Series: “Accurate, Up-To-Date, and Shared Knowledge? A Human-Robot Team Cognition Framework”
Date/Time: Friday, May 15, 2026 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Location: Virtual
UMD students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends—join us for the OTTRS (external link, opens in a new tab) Speaker Series. (Registration Required)
Abstract:
While robots can enhance efficiency and safety, they may also increase cognitive and coordination demands if not properly integrated. In response to the call for theoretical models in human autonomy teaming, Dr. Simkins and colleagues developed a conceptual framework that integrates multiple forms of team knowledge to inform how robots should be onboarded, enabling team members to develop an accurate, up-to-date, and shared understanding of robot capabilities. Specifically, the framework identifies three core properties of team cognition: accuracy (holding correct knowledge about robot capabilities and limitations), updating (the ability to adapt knowledge as conditions and robot behaviors change), and sharedness (alignment among team members regarding the robot’s role in taskwork, teamwork, and timework). These properties reflect distributed, dynamic, and overlapping forms of team knowledge, respectively, and are shaped by contextual factors. By integrating fragmented concepts from prior research, this model provides a cohesive foundation for examining how team cognition influences coordination and performance in human–robot teams and offers direction for future research in this rapidly evolving domain.
Bio:
Susan Simkins
Susan Simkins (formerly Mohammed) is a professor of Industrial-Organizational psychology at The Pennsylvania State University. She leads the Teams, Cognition, and Time lab, where her work is funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the Office for Naval Research, among others. Her research focuses on team cognition, team composition/diversity, and the role of time in team and leadership research. Her most recent work applies these research topics to human-robot teaming. Dr. Simkins is a fellow of the Association of Psychological Science and the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.
Additional Information:
Please contact infoevents@umd.edu at least one week prior to the event to request disability accommodations. In all situations, a good faith effort (up until the time of the event) will be made to provide accommodations.
For parking information and directions, please visit the Transportation Services website (external link, opens in a new tab) or view the campus map (external link, opens in a new tab).
Speaker(s): Susan J. Simkins, Professor, Industrial-Organizational Psychology; Director of Team Science for the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI); Director, Teams, Cognition, and Time (TCaT) Lab