Thematic Analysis of Interviews With U.S. Space Force Guardians on Multi-Agent System Teams in Space

A vision for the future of space exploration and operation is one in which people live and work in space as members of human–multi-agent teams, comprised of humans, robots, and other artificially intelligent agents. As such, people’s opinions on robotics and AI, especially the opinions of those who will likely be users of such systems, should be taken into account for system requirements, design, and implementation. This work analyzes interviews conducted with U.S. Space Force (USSF) Guardians to ascertain these opinions. Overall, USSF Guardians expressed an understanding of the limitations and benefits of what humans have to offer versus what AI and robotic systems do, such as differences in emotional variability and decision making abilities. Also discussed is the desire for limitations to be placed on these types of systems so that humans are always involved in certain tasks. And finally, USSF Guardians described what aspects of their work they believe could benefit from a robotic AI system. These themes could be translated into concrete design features, such as task allocation, of multi-agent systems that are not only successful, but desirable for users to work with.