Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

1. Demonstrate conceptual understanding of cyber-physical systems and emerging abstractions for explaining and interrogating such systems, including through the concepts of Automation, Agency, Assurance, Interfaces, Indicators and Intents.
2. Develop and fluently apply relevant assessment, evaluation and decision making tools and techniques relevant to managing cyber-physical systems at scale and communicate these to others.
3. Identify and critically appraise new developments, advances and emerging knowledge within domains relevant to the new branch of engineering.
4. Demonstrate ability to frame critical and constructive questions and appropriately apply existing and emerging methodologies to describe and explain the design, construction, commissioning, management and decommissioning of cyber-physical systems using the abstractions in the 3AI framework.
5. Demonstrates an appreciation of the scope, principles, norms, accountabilities and bounds of sustainable engineering practice and how they are enacted and contested for a cyber-physical system.
6. Demonstrate ethical, respectful, and professional conduct, and contribute positively to the Institute community.
7. Synthesise a wide range of data sources and inputs, and generate and communicate complex outcomes of cyber-physical research in relevant formats for diverse audiences including case study partner organisations.
8. Demonstrate a creative, innovative, and pro-active approach in efforts to explore and analyse cyber-physical systems with the goal to further develop and improve the core concepts and methodologies associated with the new branch of engineering.
9. Fluently apply teamwork and project management skills to enable a collaborative project with peers who have a variety of skills, knowledge and viewpoints, leading to the creation of an in-depth analysis of a cyber-physical system.

Indicative Assessment

1. Cyber Physical Systems group research project (50) [LO 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]
2. Applied Cybernetics Methodology Essay (35) [LO 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]
3. Participation in Methodologies Practice (15) [LO 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]

In response to COVID-19: Please note that Semester 2 Class Summary information (available under the classes tab) is as up to date as possible. Changes to Class Summaries not captured by this publication will be available to enrolled students via Wattle. 

The ANU uses Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. While the use of Turnitin is not mandatory, the ANU highly recommends Turnitin is used by both teaching staff and students. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website.

Workload

The quantum of work through the semester will be approximately 130 hours per 6 units of course. This will include a mixture of workshops and group work, as well as independent reading, viewing, listening and study. They will also participate in whole-of-Institute activities.

Inherent Requirements

Information on inherent requirements for this course is currently not available.

Requisite and Incompatibility

You will need to contact the Institute of Autonomy, Agency and Assurance to request a permission code to enrol in this course.

Prescribed Texts

None

Preliminary Reading

Resource lists for this course range from book chapters and journal articles on core theoretical concepts and research methods drawn from a range of research traditions, to think tank and industry white papers and case studies, to media stories and podcasts of relevance to the course content for a given topic. Participants will also be encouraged to continue to draw on materials and tools from CECS6001 and CECS8001.

Students are expected to engage with all the resources assigned; this will be included in weekly tutorial grading.

Here is an indicative selection from across the course.

• Andrews, Zoe, Fitzgerald, John, Payne, Richard and Alexander Romanovsky (2013) Fault Modeling for Systems of Systems in 2013 IEEE Eleventh International Symposium on Autonomous Decentralized Systems (ISADS), pp. 108 IEEE.
• Beamon, Benita M (1998) Supply Chain design and analysis: models and methods. International Journal of Production Economics 55, no 3: 281:294
• Friedman, Batya, and Peter H. Kahn. “Human Agency and Responsible Computing: Implications for Computer System Design.” Journal of System Software 17, no. 1 (January 1992): 7–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/0164-1212(92)90075-U.
• Midgley, Gerald. 2000, Systemic intervention : philosophy, methodology, and practice / Gerald Midgley Kluwer Academic/Plenum New York
• Meadows, Donella H., and Diana Wright. 2015. Thinking in systems: a primer.
• Miller, T. Christian, Megan Rose, Robert Faturechi, and Agnes Chang. “The Navy Installed Touch-Screen Steering Systems To Save Money. Ten Sailors Paid With Their Lives.” ProPublica, December 20, 2019. https://features.propublica.org/navy-uss-mccain-crash/navy-installed-touch-screen-steering-ten-sailors-paid-with-their-lives/.
• Vespignani, Alessandro (2010). Complex networks: The fragility of interdependency. Nature 464, no.7291: 984.
• de Visser, Ewart J., Richard Pak, and Tyler H. Shaw. (2018) "From ‘automation’ to ‘autonomy’: the importance of trust repair in human–machine interaction." Ergono

Assumed Knowledge

The assumed knowledge and requirements to take this course will be documented in the application pack available at https://3ainstitute.cecs.anu.edu.au/

Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links