Towards a cognitive assistant supporting human operators in the Artificial Intelligence of Things

Internet of Things (IoT) systems are becoming increasingly complex due to heterogeneity of devices and requirements for real-time processing and decision making. In this context, Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies provide powerful capabilities for endowing IoT devices with intelligent services, leading to the so-called Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT). The operator is in the middle of this complexity, trying to understand the situation and make effective real-time decisions. Hence, human factors, especially cognitive ones, are a major issue to be addressed. The human cognitive part must be framed together with intelligent artefacts, requiring a systematic approach in the domain of joint cognitive systems. New software development methods in the form of assistants and wizards are necessary to help operators to be context-aware and reduce their technical workload regarding coding or computer-oriented skills, focusing on the task or service at hand. Building on previous research on the role of the human worker in an AIoT environment, this article analyses the described situation in terms of human cyber–physical systems, with the aim of proposing a conceptual framework for these assistance systems at the cognitive level. Two illustrative examples are described to validate the effectiveness of the proposed framework in collaborative tasks.