Toward an enhanced scalability framework for human‐multi‐agent teams

Abstract

Abstract As autonomous systems become increasingly capable, the deployment of Human‐Multi‐Agent Teams (HMATs) offers immense potential for executing complex, decentralized tasks. However, realizing this potential is constrained by a critical bottleneck: the cognitive and supervisory capacity of the human operator. While foundational fan‐out models established crucial groundwork for predicting this capacity, they are structurally limited to sequential, one‐to‐one interactions and rely on ambiguous variables that often produce overly optimistic predictions in real‐world environments. This article synthesizes a multi‐year empirical research program to present a comprehensive, new framework for modeling human‐autonomy scalability. First, we deconstruct the variables of legacy models into human and robot elements, demonstrating that true scalability is a relational property driven by human‐robot alignment rather than raw machine autonomy. We then validate the necessity of a mathematically bounded architecture to ensure predictive stability under operational uncertainty. Finally, we extend this framework to mathematically capture the paradigm shift toward group‐based, one‐to‐many teaming. By analyzing the results of a complex, multi‐agent simulation, we reveal the fundamental, quantifiable trade‐off between increasing team scale and maintaining human oversight, providing AI system designers with a validated blueprint for optimizing the next generation of human‐autonomy teams.