Lecture The Human Factor as Constraint: Prototyping Human-Centered AI Systems
Lecturer: Dr. Jeremy SaxTutorials: Dr. Jeremy Sax
Organisation: Sophia Sakel
Hours per week: 2 (Lecture) + 2 (Tutorial)
ECTS credits: 6
Module: Module Assignments
Syllabus
This course investigates how human constraints shape the design of human-AI-environment systems so they can be safe, beneficial, and well-calibrated. We start from classic human-factors knowledge on interaction in high-stakes automation scenarios, such as automated driving. From here we abstract the concepts that carry: sharing versus trading control, automation trustworthiness, vigilance, and the person's own perspective. A real, physical robot lets us test vicariously what has stayed the same and what has changed in contemporary human-AI interaction. The goal is to extend core human-factors concepts across fields such as medicine, process automation, aviation, production and more â?? to build an intuition that will help you design systems. The practicals are aimed to be very practical, giving you the opportunity to prototype the interactions discussed in the lectures yourselves.
Taught concepts include:
- levels of automation · degree of autonomy · level of control
- types of human-automation interaction
- supervision and intervention
- task analysis
- human-in-the-loop systems
- the industry processes where human factors is applied: SOTIF (ISO 21448), functional safety (ISO 26262).
- Cognitive offloading
- Leaning and expertise
- Fitts List
- Technology Acceptance
Dates and Locations
- Lecture:
Date and time: 19.10.2026 from 14 - 16 o'clock c.t.
Location: Geschw.-Scholl-Pl. 1 (B) / B 106 - Tutorial:
Date and time: 19.10.2026 from 4 - 6 o'clock c.t.
Location: Geschw.-Scholl-Pl. 1 (B) / B 106
Weekly lecture plus practical. The practicals run on the operational data, logs, and knowledge files of one deployed assistive robot.
The lecture course is suitable for:
siehe ZuordnungenExam
The exam date will be announced via LSF during the semester.
The exam will take place as a written exam in presence.
Course Material
The materials for this course will be provided via Moodle.
Registration
To gain access to the online materials, please register in Moodle with your Campus ID. The registration key is humanfactors2026.
