Optimizing Team Composition Using Modeling and Multi Agent System Technology

This proposal is for a Phase II continuation of Perceptronics Solutions’ Phase I research and development on factors affecting superior team performance and automated means of helping to form optimal, mission-oriented teams in military and non-military environments. Our primary SBIR project objective is to develop a more complete framework that incorporates basic research knowledge to optimize team composition; this will be the focus of our Phase II effort. A second objective is to extend and test the framework by means of an adaptive, multiagent-based system that will automatically form and adaptively improve optimal teams using information on team performance factors available from standard personnel sources and/or brief questionnaires. We developed and tested a proof-of-concept version of the Automated Team Composition System during Phase I of the present SBIR project. We have subsequently implemented a complete prototype system under a closely related DARPA-sponsored SBIR Phase II project focused on team formation using mission modeling and social networking factors. The availability of the DARPA prototype automated team formation system will greatly enhance our ability to perform the research necessary to develop and evaluate the complete team composition framework and will permit us to concentrate our Phase II efforts on the research tasks.