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241
A Roadmap of Agent Research and Development
- INT JOURNAL OF AUTONOMOUS AGENTS AND MULTI-AGENT SYSTEMS
, 1998
"... This paper provides an overview of research and development activities in the field of autonomous agents and multi-agent systems. It aims to identify key concepts and applications, and to indicate how they relate to one-another. Some historical context to the field of agent-based computing is give ..."
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Cited by 511 (8 self)
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This paper provides an overview of research and development activities in the field of autonomous agents and multi-agent systems. It aims to identify key concepts and applications, and to indicate how they relate to one-another. Some historical context to the field of agent-based computing is given, and contemporary research directions are presented. Finally, a range of open issues and future challenges are highlighted.
Multiagent Systems: A Survey from a Machine Learning Perspective
- AUTONOMOUS ROBOTS
, 1997
"... Distributed Artificial Intelligence (DAI) has existed as a subfield of AI for less than two decades. DAI is ..."
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Cited by 372 (24 self)
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Distributed Artificial Intelligence (DAI) has existed as a subfield of AI for less than two decades. DAI is
Methods for Task Allocation Via Agent Coalition Formation
, 1998
"... Task execution in multi-agent environments may require cooperation among agents. Given a set of agents and a set of tasks which they have to satisfy, we consider situations where each task should be attached to a group of agents that will perform the task. Task allocation to groups of agents is nece ..."
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Cited by 364 (21 self)
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Task execution in multi-agent environments may require cooperation among agents. Given a set of agents and a set of tasks which they have to satisfy, we consider situations where each task should be attached to a group of agents that will perform the task. Task allocation to groups of agents is necessary when tasks cannot be performed by a single agent. However it may also be beneficial when groups perform more efficiently with respect to the single agents' performance. In this paper we present several solutions to the problem of task allocation among autonomous agents, and suggest that the agents form coalitions in order to perform tasks or improve the efficiency of their performance. We present efficient distributed algorithms with low ratio bounds and with low computational complexities. These properties are proven theoretically and supported by simulations and an implementation in an agent system. Our methods are based on both the algorithmic aspects of combinatorics and approximat...
Developing multi-agent systems with JADE
- Wiley Series in Agent Technology
, 2007
"... Abstract. JADE (Java Agent Development Framework) is a software framework to make easy the development of multi-agent applications in compliance with the FIPA specifications. JADE can then be considered a middle-ware that implements an efficient agent platform and supports the development of multi a ..."
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Cited by 320 (5 self)
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Abstract. JADE (Java Agent Development Framework) is a software framework to make easy the development of multi-agent applications in compliance with the FIPA specifications. JADE can then be considered a middle-ware that implements an efficient agent platform and supports the development of multi agent systems. JADE agent platform tries to keep high the performance of a distributed agent system implemented with the Java language. In particular, its communication architecture tries to offer flexible and efficient messaging, transparently choosing the best transport available and leveraging state-of-the-art distributed object technology embedded within Java runtime environment. JADE uses an agent model and Java implementation that allow good runtime efficiency, software reuse, agent mobility and the realization of different agent architectures. 1.
Sold!: Auction Methods for Multirobot Coordination
, 2002
"... The key to utilizing the potential of multirobot systems is cooperation. How can we achieve cooperation in systems composed of failure-prone autonomous robots operating in noisy, dynamic environments? In this paper, we present a novel method of dynamic task allocation for groups of such robots. We i ..."
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Cited by 318 (10 self)
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The key to utilizing the potential of multirobot systems is cooperation. How can we achieve cooperation in systems composed of failure-prone autonomous robots operating in noisy, dynamic environments? In this paper, we present a novel method of dynamic task allocation for groups of such robots. We implemented and tested an auction-based task allocation system which we call MURDOCH, built upon a principled, resource centric, publish /subscribe communication model. A variant of the Contract Net Protocol, MURDOCH produces a distributed approximation to a global optimum of resource usage. We validated MURDOCH in two very different domains: a tightly coupled multirobot physical manipulation task and a loosely coupled multirobot experiment in long-term autonomy. The primary contribution of this paper is to show empirically that distributed negotiation mechanisms such as MURDOCH are viable and effective for coordinating physical multirobot systems.
Middle-Agents for the Internet
, 1997
"... Like middle-men in physical commerce, middleagents support the flow of information in electronic commerce, assisting in locating and connecting the ultimate information provider with the ultimate information requester. Many different types of middleagents will be useful in realistic, large, dis ..."
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Cited by 252 (44 self)
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Like middle-men in physical commerce, middleagents support the flow of information in electronic commerce, assisting in locating and connecting the ultimate information provider with the ultimate information requester. Many different types of middleagents will be useful in realistic, large, distributed, open multi-agent problem solving systems. These include matchmakers or yellow page agents that process advertisements, blackboard agents that collect requests, and brokers that process both. The behaviors of each type of middle-agent have certain performance characteristics---privacy, robustness, and adaptiveness qualities---that are related to characteristics of the external environment and of the agents themselves. For example, while brokered systems are more vulnerable to certain failures, they are also able to cope more quickly with a rapidly fluctuating agent workforce and meet certain privacy considerations. This paper identifies a spectrum of middle-agents, cha...
Dynamic Service Matchmaking Among Agents in Open Information Environments
- SIGMOD Record
, 1999
"... The amount of services and deployed software agents in the most famous offspring of the Internet, the World Wide Web, is exponentially increasing. In addition, the Internet is an open environment, where information sources, communication links and agents themselves may appear and disappear unpredict ..."
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Cited by 164 (21 self)
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The amount of services and deployed software agents in the most famous offspring of the Internet, the World Wide Web, is exponentially increasing. In addition, the Internet is an open environment, where information sources, communication links and agents themselves may appear and disappear unpredictably.Thus, an effective, automated search and selection of relevant services or agents is essential for human users and agents as well. We distinguish three general agent categories in the Cyberspace, serviceproviders, servicerequester, and middle agents. Service providers provide some type of service, such as finding information, or performing some particular domain specific problem solving. Requester agents need provider agents to perform some service for them. Agents that help locate others are called middle agents [2]. Matchmaking is the process of finding an appropriate provider for a requester through a middl...
LARKS: Dynamic Matchmaking Among Heterogeneous Software Agents in Cyberspace
- IN CYBERSPACE. AUTONOMOUS AGENTS AND MULTI-AGENT SYSTEMS
, 2002
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Simultaneous Tracking & Activity Recognition (STAR) Using Many Anonymous, Binary Sensors
, 2004
"... Automatic health monitoring helps enable independent living for the elderly by providing specific information to caregivers. This goal, called aging in place,is increasingly important as an unprecedented portion of the population enters old age. I introduce the simultaneous tracking and activity rec ..."
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Cited by 82 (2 self)
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Automatic health monitoring helps enable independent living for the elderly by providing specific information to caregivers. This goal, called aging in place,is increasingly important as an unprecedented portion of the population enters old age. I introduce the simultaneous tracking and activity recognition (STAR) problem,whose solution provides this key information. I propose using data from many minimally invasive sensors commonly found in home security systems to provide simultaneous room-level tracking and recognition of many of the activities of daily living (ADLs). ADLs have been chosen by physicians to gauge the severity of cognitive and physical ailments. I describe a Rao-Blackwellised particle filter for room level tracking, rudimentary activity recognition, and data association, as well as a Monte Carlo EM approach for online parameter learning. I demonstrate results from experiments in an instrumented home and on simulated data. Proposed extensions improve the approach and add more complex activity recognition. We discuss how to integrate a growing vocabulary of activities into the tracker.
Electric elves: Applying agent technology to support human organizations
, 2001
"... The operation of a human organization requires dozens of everyday tasks to ensure coherence in organizational activities, to monitor the status of such activities, to gather information relevant to the organization, to keep everyone in the organization informed, etc. Teams of software agents can aid ..."
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Cited by 79 (27 self)
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The operation of a human organization requires dozens of everyday tasks to ensure coherence in organizational activities, to monitor the status of such activities, to gather information relevant to the organization, to keep everyone in the organization informed, etc. Teams of software agents can aid humans in accomplishing these tasks, facilitating the organization’s coherent functioning and rapid response to crises, while reducing the burden on humans. Based on this vision, this paper reports on Electric Elves, a system that has been operational, 24/7, at our research institute since June 1, 2000. Tied to individual user workstations, fax machines, voice, mobile devices such as cell phones and palm pilots, Electric Elves has assisted us in routine tasks, such as rescheduling meetings, selecting presenters for research meetings, tracking people’s locations, organizing lunch meetings, etc. We discuss the underlying AI technologies that led to the success of Electric Elves, including technologies devoted to agenthuman interactions, agent coordination, accessing multiple heterogeneous information sources, dynamic assignment of organizational tasks, and deriving information about organization members. We also report the results of deploying Electric Elves in our own research organization.
