Modeling Cooperative Decision Support Systems with Hybrid Agents

In this paper, the authors propose to use Multi-Agents Systems (MAS) to model Cooperative Decision Support Systems (DSS). These systems support the collaboration of two kinds of agents: the human agent (the decision-maker or the user) and the artificial agent (machine) to solve jointly a problem and make a decision. In this way, the authors take advantage of the capacities of both the decision-maker and the machine. The novelty of the proposed approach is the modeling of Cooperative DSS using agent technology by coupling two MAS, the first is reactive and the latter is cognitive or deliberative. The resulting system is designed to support operators, as decision-makers during contingencies. Using the system, the operators should be able to: gather information about the incident location, access databases related to the incident, activate predictive modeling programs, support analyses, and monitor the progress of the situation and action execution. A simple scenario is given, to illustrate the feasibility of the proposal.