I-Corps: Development of a smart food distribution software system

这一I-Corps项目的商业潜力是为人道主义粮食救济网开发一个决策支助系统，利用复杂的数据支助大规模分发和资源分配的决定。 人工决策过程由智能自主代理支持，这些智能自主代理指导用户完成针对组织的特定需求定制的数据建模和可视化任务，并考虑其特定目标：1）资源的公平分配; 2）资源的成本效益分配;以及3）稀缺资源的有效利用。 人道主义粮食救济网络的稀缺资源分配问题包括人力（志愿人员资源）和物资（例如，食物、金钱）。其商业潜力在于能够根据智能体通过数据和人机交互从用户环境中学习的能力，向决策者提出特定于模型的建议。该系统的桥梁之间的知识差距复杂的建模工具和业务主题专家谁可能受益于这些工具，但缺乏特定领域的知识，以实现他们在practice.This I-Corps项目是基于人道主义粮食救济网络，具有机器学习和优化能力与人类的认知能力交织的平台的发展。具体来说，所提出的技术利用认知计算和数据建模方面的研究来构建一个智能平台，使组织能够将高级数据建模集成到其运营中。我们的愿景是，这个平台将作为一个智能代理的集合，支持工作人员作为一个团队执行不同的功能。在这种情况下，智力意味着以下四种认知能力：记忆和处理大量信息，可视化和理解信息中的复杂概念，沟通（例如，指导和指导，并从经验中学习。该平台旨在包含一个强大的操作和数据建模本体，以促进智能代理与工作团队的人机交互，并促进四种认知能力的执行。该I-Corps团队计划调查这项创新的市场潜力，验证客户需求以及创新如何缓解这些需求，并识别可持续的商业模式。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a decision-support system for humanitarian food relief networks which harnesses complex data to support large-scale distribution and resource allocation decisions. The human decision-making process is supported by intelligent autonomous agents that guide users through data modeling and visualization tasks tailored to the specific needs of the organization considering their specific objectives of 1) equitable allocation of resources; 2) cost effective distribution of resources; and 3) efficient use of scarce resources. Scarce resource allocation problems in humanitarian food relief networks consist of human (volunteer resources) and material (e.g., food, money). The commercial potential lies at the ability to make model-specific recommendations to decision-makers based on the agent's capability to learn from the user environment through data and human/computer interaction. The proposed system bridges the knowledge gap between sophisticated modeling tools and operations subject matter experts who may benefit from these tools but lack the domain-specific knowledge to implement them in practice.This I-Corps project is based on the development of a platform for humanitarian food relief networks that possesses machine learning and optimization capabilities interwoven with the human cognition capabilities. Specifically, the proposed technology leverages research in cognitive computing and data modeling to build an intelligent platform to empower organizations to integrate advanced data modeling into their operations. The vision is that this platform will function as a collection of intelligent agents supporting workers performing different functions as a team. In this context, intelligence implies the following four cognitive abilities: to remember and process large amounts of information, to visualize and understand complex concepts in the information, to communicate (e.g., provide instruction and guidance), and to learn from experience. The platform is designed to contain a robust operations and data modeling ontology to facilitate human/machine interaction of the intelligent agents with the team of workers and to facilitate the execution of the four cognitive abilities. This I-Corps team plans to investigate the market potential of this innovation, validate customer needs and how the innovation may alleviate such needs, and discern sustainable business models.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.