Bridging minds and machines: Zhaodan Kong designs safer, more successful human-tech teams
By Anna Linn
CITRIS and the Banatao Institute published an article about Dr. Zhaodan Kong's work. Select paragraphs are included below.
From fire-detecting drone swarms to optimally efficient human-autonomy collaboration, the UC Davis mechanical and aerospace engineer uses complex technological systems to address complex challenges.
Zhaodan Kong is an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of California, Davis, and a principal investigator (PI) at the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society and the Banatao Institute (CITRIS), whose research addresses technological solutions for tangible, real-world issues. His UC Davis Cyber-Human-Physical Systems (CHPS) Lab explores cyber-human-physical systems — the complicated ways in which people and computers interact via physical devices — and examines the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to pursue more complex goals.
As the role of technology in our daily lives evolves, safe and successful partnerships between humans and machines grow increasingly critical to meeting the scale of society’s needs. Kong works to develop systems with autonomy, or the ability to function independently in uncontrolled environments. His ultimate goal is technological autonomy that is both assured, meaning its behavior is mathematically predictable, and collaborative, meaning it can respond to input from humans, as well as other machines.
His group investigates a variety of ways in which to improve and implement assured and collaborative autonomy, including human-autonomy teaming, which pairs people with AI-enabled systems in pursuit of a common goal; neural engineering, which integrates biomedical science with engineering principles to understand and improve the function of the human nervous system; and the control and application of uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs), aka drones.
“I believe AI and other technology can be tremendously helpful to solve problems that we are going to face in the future,” Kong said, “but we have to be careful about the implications. In some situations, we need a human in or on the loop to make sure that the implementation is ethical, safe, and secure.”
Kong earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in astronautics and mechanics from the Harbin Institute of Technology in northeastern China. After completing a doctorate in aerospace engineering and mechanics at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and then a postdoctoral position at Boston University, he joined the UC Davis faculty in 2015.
There, he works alongside fellow CITRIS PI and aerospace and mechanical engineer Stephen Robinson at the UC Davis Center for Spaceflight Research and the NASA-sponsored Habitats Optimized for Mission of Space Exploration (HOME) Space Technology Research Institute. He is also affiliated with the NSF-funded AI Institute for Next Generation Food Systems, the UC Davis Air Quality Research Center, the UC Davis Center for Neuroengineering & Medicine, and the UC Davis Wildfires Research Working Group.
Measuring trust in tech
Another potentially lifesaving avenue of investigation for Kong is measuring human trust in technology, especially in systems where safety is on the line. If a person is flying an aircraft or operating a nuclear power plant, misunderstanding the technology’s capabilities, even briefly, could lead to fatal accidents.
To help human-autonomy teams collaborate more effectively, Kong is working with UC Berkeley mechanical engineer Kosa Goucher-Lambert to better quantify, and eventually predict, user trust with support from a 2022 CITRIS Seed Award. In their experiment, a human interacts with an autonomous system to perform simple tasks while wearing nonintrusive sensors that track physical attributes such as brain activity, gaze, pulse and heartbeat. This allows the researchers to collect feedback from the human subject without disrupting them from the flow of the task. They are also asked periodically about their trust in the system.
By adding a layer of physiological metrics atop the gold-standard survey questions, the team aims to calibrate the user’s trust in real time, with the goal of designing systems that strike an optimal balance between overreliance and skepticism. For instance, if a person exhibits low trust, the system can offer an explanation that increasings their understanding of the technology’s abilities and, as a result, their level of assurance.
“The reason we’re focusing on trust right now,” said Kong, “is that it’s a very hard thing to infer.”
If his team can successfully predict human-machine trust, they plan to expand their model to further infer how users are affected by varying workloads and situational awareness. Ultimately, they intend to use that information to design more efficient and effective human-autonomy teams.
Their project, now in its second year, has grown from its CITRIS-seeded roots to include researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder, with further support from the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) and NASA.
Supporting emerging leaders
As he works to develop collaborative relationships between humanity and machines, Zhaodan Kong also takes care to support the next generation of researchers, for whom human-technology interactions will be even more prevalent.
In summer 2024, Kong’s lab participated in the CITRIS Workforce Innovation Program, where host organizations, such as academic laboratories and tech startups, train students to build skills in leadership, project management and areas of emerging innovation.
Luuanne Chau, an undergraduate studying computer science at UC Davis, “dipped her toes,” as she described it, into the realm of machine learning as an intern on the wildfire project, where she developed a model to detect a wildfire in its early stages using thermal imaging.
“Although Dr. Kong was busy, he set aside time for me to meet with him every week, where I could discuss what I’m trying, what’s working and what’s not working, and then he could give me suggestions,” she said.
As someone who had never previously considered working with drones, Chau recalls her time with Kong and his lab group as an affirming experience where she felt she contributed to something meaningful.
“He’s an understanding PI who cares for his students and has given me a lot of freedom with this project,” she said. “He’s also presented some opportunities for me to pursue for the upcoming school year, which I really appreciate.”
Looking forward, looking to the skies
Kong intends to keep pursuing collaborative solutions to complex challenges, with CITRIS Aviation as a promising new venue. He was just named to the research initiative’s faculty and staff leadership committee.
He cites CITRIS’s multicampus presence and interdisciplinary mission as a multiplying strength.
“There’s no way that I could solve these problems by myself,” Kong said. “But by combining different groups, expertise and experience — we all have to work together to create solutions that are not only effective but also safe, ethical, sustainable and beneficial for everyone.”