Simulation of the Emotion Dynamics in a Group of Agents in an Evacuation Situation

International audienceNowadays, more and more emergency evacuation simulations are used to evaluate the safety level of a building during an emergency evacuation after an accident. The heart of this kind of simulations is the simulation of human behavior because simulation results depend for a big part on how this behavior is simulated. However, human behaviors in a real emergency situation are determined by a lot of cognitive mechanisms. In order to make the simulation more realistic, plenty of factors (e.g. innate characteristics, perception of the environment, internal rules, personality and even emotions) that affect human behaviors must be taken into account. This paper focuses on the influence of emotions, and more precisely on the influence of their dynamics and propagation from an agent to another. The main contribution of this work is the development of a model of emotions taking into account their dynamics and their propagation and its integration in an evacuation simulation. The first results of the simulation show the benefits of considering emotion propagation

Developing an Adaptive Building Evacuation Simulation and Decision Support Framework using Cognitive Agent-Based Modelling

Preparing for an unprecedented event involving the movement of populations could take up large amounts of resources if done conventionally. The main motivation of this study is the behavioural modification approach which is an underexplored potential in evacuation dynamics, offering new possibilities in terms of practicality and ease of implementation. This paper tackles an adaptive building evacuation simulation and decision support framework that will serve as a guide to evaluate and propose evacuation strategies for disaster management researchers and decision-making authorities. The framework mainly involves the formulation of the cognitive agent model, the evacuation simulation, and the decision support. The timeliness in the Philippine context of the long-overdue “Big One” earthquake, the vulnerability of the case study, and the capability of the framework to be a standard guide where components can be customized by users based on the disaster type and site-specific requirements make this research a significant undertaking

A Coupled SFM-ASCRIBE Model To Investigate the Influence of Emotions and Collective Behavior in Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Crowds

The understanding of crowd behavior dynamics holds immense significance in ensuring public safety across a range of situations, including emergency evacuations and large-scale events. Our research focuses on two primary objectives: investigating the impact of emotions on crowd movement and gaining valuable insights into collective behavior within crowds. To achieve this, we present a coupled model, incorporating an enhanced ASCRIBE model with an agent displacement model. We introduce heterogeneity into our model by incorporating specific mobility laws for different categories of panicked crowds, considering the influence of emotions on both speed and direction. Through numerical simulations, we analyze the model's parameters, observe the behavior of uniform crowds, and explore the collective dynamics within diverse crowds. By conducting comprehensive simulations and analyses, the findings from this study can contribute to the development of more effective crowd management strategies and emergency evacuation protocols

A data-driven approach towards a realistic and generic crowd simulation framework

Jacob Sinclair studied and developed a data-driven approach towards a realistic and generic crowd simulation framework. He found that by using virtual reality and questionnaires, we can gather all types of real world data. He also found that an AI framework developed using all types of data can produce similar results to the real world. This AI framework has the potential to be used to improve areas such as emergency management and response, traffic control, building design, video games, etc

A dynamic emotional model for agent societies

This paper presents a first approximation of a dynamic emotional model to be employed in agent societies. The proposed model is based on the PAD emotional model and allows the representation of the emotional contagion phenomena of a heterogeneous group of agents which are capable of express emotions. Moreover, the proposal allows the definition of the social emotion of this group of agents. The model is mainly based on three elements: personality, empathy and affinity. These elements allow the characterization of each individual, causing them susceptible to vary in some degre the emotions of other individuals