Experimental studies of manual optimization in control tasks

The abilities of a human operator have been examined experimentally in a manual control task. In these experiments, a human operator was instructed to control the output of a plant so as to minimize a performance index shown after each trial. The performance index, a combination of control effort and plant results, allows the operator to improve performance after repeated trials. The human operator can do the task satisfactorily after enough training even if there is no information about the plant dynamics or the form of the performance index. In addition, the operator develops distinct control action depending on the distinct characteristics of the performance index. Results are presented for both linear and nonlinear plants. The results indicate the high-level abilities of a human operator in controlling plants based on given performance indices. The high-level abilities include both learning and becoming an excellent controller.>