Advancing the Mind/Machine Interface: Qualitative Simulations, Hypertext, and Natural Language Processing

Abstract

Advanced technologies, including artificial intelligence (Al), hypertext, and natural language processing (NLP), are transforming the Mind/Machine Interface. This presentation focuses on two large development projects underway that use these technologies in unique ways. Their use is guided by the three natural means of communication between people: saying, coaching, and showing; as metaphors for using advanced technology interfaces. The two projects are aimed at developing job and training aids for the Army. The most complete example is the Maintenance Aid Computer for HAWK–Intelligent Institutional Instructor (MACH-III). This is the largest and most successful implementation of an ITS to date (Psotka, Massey, and Mutter, 1988). MACH-III was developed by Bolt, Beranek, and Newman (BBN), to provide training in organizational maintenance of the main radar of the HAWK air defense guided missile system. Its core is a huge qualitative simulation of the radar. The complexity of the simulation and the troubleshooting problem space demand a unique hypertext interface, whose structure and function are only beginning to be understood. Some preliminary evaluation results from the U.S. Army Air Defense Artillery School (USAADASCH), Ft. Bliss, Texas are beginning to show its effectiveness. The other project, Building Robust Dual Grammar Exercisers (BRIDGE), will begin to explore the architextual structure of hypertext systems within the context of advanced technologies for military machine translation and military foreign language training. From this perspective, hypertext is a bridging technology that links the existing strengths of qualitative simulations with the future power of natural language processing.