Systems, Man & Cybernetics - April 2015 - 19

In 1948, Wiener used cybernetics as an umbrella
Type_000 Cybernetics
term to cover control and communication in the animal
Type_000 cybernetics studies the case in which both the
and the machine [3]. There is no doubt that control and
subject and the object are single selves, and the subject is
communication are important, but they cannot cover
outside the object. Type_000 cybernetics is often referred
all aspects of governance. This is why cybernetics has
to as first-order cybernetics in the literature. In Type_000
been defined in many different ways in the past (see the
cybernetics, the object is usually considered a black box,
long list given on the Web page of the American Society
and the subject has a mechanism to acquire the difference
for Cybernetics [4]). Because cybernetics covers many
between the goal state and the actual state of the object as
fields, it has not evolved as a separate field with its own
well as a mechanism to update the object configuration so
specific theory, methodology, and instrumentarium.
that the state of the object can move toward the desired one.
Rather, cybernetics has been a foundation for spreading
Most problems studied in conventional control theory are
the concepts and ideas of general principles governing
related to Type_000 cybernetics.
systems organization, control, and evolution. Cybernetics has significantly influenced and stimulated a wide
Type_001 Cybernetics
variety of research disciplines related to the broad area
Type_001 cybernetics studies the case in which a sinof machine intelligence, such as artificial intelligence
gle-self object is governed from within by a single-self
(AI), control theory, decision making, game theory,
subject. Compared with Type_000 cybernetics, the govmachine learning, human-machine systems, chaos theernance is more difficult because the behavior of the subory, knowledge engineering, soft
ject may also affect the states of
computing, and cognitive science.
the object. Type_001 cybernetics is
For this reason, cybernetics has
often called governor in the loop or
been perceived rather generally
cybernetics of cybernetics [7].
The subjective
by researchers as a miscellaneous
Figure 1 shows a concrete
and nomad research field [5].
example
of Type_001 cybernetics,
information flow is
This article is a revised vera general view of driver-vehicle
generally inaccessible
sion of our presentation at the
interaction. The driver's control
to the electronic
f irst IEEE Inter nationa l Conactions, which are communicated
ference on Cybernetics held in
to the vehicle subsystems through
control systems.
Lausanne, Switzerland, in June
human-machine interaction (HMI),
2013 [6]. The pu r pose of th is
steering (S), accelerator (A), and
article is twofold. First, it serves
brake (B) pedals, are a result of
as a quick-start guide for young
a complex process driven by two
researchers to understand some basic concepts relatmain information flows,
ed to cybernetics. Second, this article reconsiders
◆ a cognitive flow, including the quantitative information
the meaning of cybernetics and provides a taxonomy
readily available to the driver through various sensors,
that can aid the reader in understanding cybernetics
control, and advisory systems (denoted by solid lines
more clearly.
in Figure 1)
◆ a subjective flow, including visual, perceptual, emoTaxonomy of Cybernetic Systems
tional, and experiential factors that are processed in
Cybernetics is a research field that studies governance in
the driver's mind (denoted by dashed lines in Figure 1).
various subject-object systems, where the subject (goverWhile the quantitative information flow is available
nor) is the system that governs and the object is the system
to both the driver and the vehicle systems, the subjective
to be governed. In this article, we classify cybernetics into
information flow is generally inaccessible to the eleceight types based on the following three factors:
tronic control systems-which is a major reason for the
difficulties in obtaining adequate driver behavior char◆ whether or not the subject is inside the object
acterization. The goal of the vehicle control module is to
◆ whether or not the object has a distributed structure
formalize the objective and subjective information and
◆ whether or not the subject has a distributed structure.
to infer appropriate actions that maximally satisfy the
We say a system has a distributed structure if it
driver's targets (objective and subjective). The driver is not
is a composition of many components and cannot
an independent governor but a part of a human-in-the-loop
be considered a single self from a microperspective.
system. In all cases that are characterized with HMIs, the
We use Type_ zyx to denote the type of cybernetics,
governor is inside the system.
where x, y, and z are binary numbers. For example,
in Type_011 cybernetics, the subject is inside the object
(x = 1), and the object has a distributed structure
Type_011 Cybernetics
(y = 1), but the subject is (or can be considered) a
Type_001 cybernetics belongs to the broad category of
single self (z = 0) .
cyberphysical systems [8]-[11]. In the literature, Type_001
Ap ri l 2015

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