The Effects of Multimodal Mobile Communications on Cooperative Team Interactions Executing Distributed Tasks

Abstract

Mobile devices are rapidly becoming an indispensable part of our everyday life. Integrated with various embedded sensors and the ability to sup- port on-the-move processing, mobile devices are being investigated as potential tools to support cooperative team interactions and distributed real-time decision making in both military and civilian applications. A driving interest is how a mobile device equipped with multimodal communication capabilities can contribute to the effectiveness and efficiency of real-time, task outcome and performance. In this paper, we investigate the effects of a prototype multimodal collaborative Android application on distributed collaborating partners jointly working on a physical task. The mobile application's implementation supports real-time data dissemination of an active workspace's perspective between distributed operators. The prototype application was demonstrated in a scenario where teammates utilize different features of the software to collaboratively assemble a complex structure. Results indicated significant improvements in completion times when users visually shared their perspectives and were able to utilize image annotation versus relying on verbal descriptors.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jul 01, 2013
Accession Number
ADA595110

Entities

People

  • Andres Calvo
  • Gregory Burnett
  • Gregory Funke
  • Victor Finomore

Organizations

  • Air Force Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Air Force Research Laboratories
  • Cognitive Workload
  • Computers
  • Government Procurement
  • Mobile Application Software
  • Mobile Communications
  • Mobile Computing
  • Mobile Devices
  • Mobile Operating Systems
  • Mobile Phones
  • Models
  • Operating Systems
  • Personal Computers
  • Prototypes
  • Tablet Computers
  • Teamwork

Fields of Study

  • Computer science

Readers

  • Database Systems and Applications
  • Sensor Fusion and Tracking Systems.
  • Team-Based Human-Centered Cognitive Task Decision Making and Information Performance.