The paradox of automation and the role of human centered design

The purpose of this paper is to examine the philosophy of Human Centered Automation (HCA), and how the Nuclear Power Industry (NPI) can take advantage of the history of HCA in other fields. The integration of humans into complex, automated systems has not received the design priority that it should. Operators seem to be viewed almost like any other problem: Design the right automation, and the problem will go away. Such a philosophy prevents the human from being integrated totally into the control process. The nuclear power industry is by no means unique in its need to solve the problem of non-linar, human performance. Designers in other fields are struggling with the same issue: What should the role of humans be in a complex, automated system '' This report presents the philosophy of HCA, examines the paradox of automation, and the role that human centered design has played in dealing with it.