For a long time, the role of the environment has been underestimated in multiagent systems research. Originating from research on behavior-based agents and situated multiagent systems, the importance of the environment is now gradually being accepted in the multiagent system community in general. In this paper, we elaborate on the role of environments in multiagent systems. We present a model for multiagent systems that puts forward agents and the environment as first-order abstractions. Starting from this model, we elaborate on the logical functionalities of the environment. Competence in engineering environments is a prerequisite to apply environments in practical multiagent system applications. We briefly discuss how current agent-oriented methodologies deal with the environment, and we discuss an approach for engineering environments that puts forward artifacts as building blocks for environments. After that we present the concern-based approach for engineering environments developed in our research group. This approach models the environment as a set of modules that represent different functional concerns of the environment. We illustrate how we have applied this approach in a real-world multiagent system application. The paper concludes with a number of research challenges that are important for the further exploration of environments for multiagent systems. Povzetek: Opisuje vlogo okolij v multiagentnih sistemih. 1

We discuss potential and limitations of a Morph Node, inspired by the corresponding construct in Java3D. A Morph Node in Java3D interpolates vertex attributes among several homeomorphic geometries. This node is a promising candidate for the delivery of 3D animation in a very compact form. We review the state-of-the-art in Web 3D techniques, allowing for the possibility of interpolating among several geometries. This review leads to a simple extension for VRML-97 as well as a recommendation for necessary changes in Java3D. Furthermore, we discuss various optimization issues for Morph Nodes.

The complexity of current computer systems and software warrants research into methods to decrease the cognitive load on users. Determining how to get the right information into the right form with the right tool at the right time has become a monumental task --- one necessitating intelligent interfaces agents with the ability to predict the users' needs or intent. An accurate user model is considered necessary for effective prediction of user intent. Methods for maintaining accurate user models is the main thrust of this paper. We describe an approach for dynamically correcting an interface agent's user model based on utility-theory. We explicitly take into account an agent's requirements and metrics for measuring the agent's effectiveness of meeting those requirements. Using these requirements and metrics, we develop a requirements utility function that determines when a user model should be corrected and how. We present a correction model based on a multi-agent bidding...

Abstract. SIM AGENT is a toolkit that arose out of a project concerned with designing an architecture for an autonomous agent with human-like capabilities. Analysis of requirements showed a need to combine a wide variety of richly interacting mechanisms, including independent asynchronous sources of motivation and the ability to reflect on which motives to adopt, when to achieve them, how to achieve them, and so on. These internal ‘management ’ (and meta-management) processes involve a certain amount of parallelism, but resource limits imply the need for explicit control of attention. Such control problems can lead to emotional and other characteristically human affective states. In order to explore these ideas, we needed a toolkit to facilitate experiments with various architectures in various environments, including other agents. The paper outlines requirements and summarises the main design features of a Pop-11 toolkit supporting both rule-based and ‘sub-symbolic ’ mechanisms. Some experiments including hybrid architectures and genetic algorithms are summarised. 1

We review recent research in robotics, neuroscience, evolutionary neurobiology, and ethology with the aim of highlighting some points of agreement and convergence. Specifically, we compare Brooks' (1986) subsumption architecture for robot control with research in neuroscience demonstrating layered control systems in vertebrate brains, and with research in ethology that emphasizes the decomposition of control into multiple, intertwined behavior systems. From this perspective we then describe interesting parallels between the subsumption architecture and the natural layered behavior system that determines defense reactions in the rat. We then consider the action selection problem for robots and vertebrates and argue that, in addition to subsumption-like conflict resolution mechanisms, the vertebrate nervous system employs specialized selection mechanisms located in a group of central brain structures termed the basal ganglia. We suggest that similar specialized switching mechanisms might...

This work describes a control architecture based on a hierarchical classifier system. This system, which learns both reactive and planning rules, implements a motivationally autonomous animat that chooses the actions it performs according to its perception of the external environment, to its physiological or internal state, to the consequences of its current behavior, and to the expected consequences of its future behavior. The adaptive faculties of this architecture are illustrated within the context of a navigation task, through various experiments with a simulated and a real robot. I. Introduction The work presented in this paper fits into the so-called animat approach, which aims at designing animats, i.e., simulated animals or real robots whose rules of behavior are inspired by those of animals. The proximate goal of this approach is to discover architectures or working principles that allow an animal or a robot to exhibit an adaptive behavior and, thus, to survive or fulfill i...

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This paper focuses on how to provide multiple levels of control for autonomous animated characters for use in interactive story systems. Much has been written on the problems of action-selection for autonomous agents and robots [Maes90, Blumberg94, Brooks86]. Some work has focused on the specific problems of building autonomous animated characters [Reynolds87, Tu94]. Less work, however, has focused on the problem of integrating external control into autonomous agent architectures, particularly as it relates to the types of control needed for characters in interactive story systems. It is this problem which is the topic of this paper and much of our research in general. This paper is organized as follows. We begin by identifying 4 different levels of control and discuss the forms the control may take. We then describe how a particular autonomous agent architecture, developed by Blumberg and Galyean, supports these different levels of control. Lastly, we describe the use of these ideas in 2 systems. Details of the underlying architecture may be found in [Blumberg95]

Why would we want/need to endow artificial agents with emotions? The main reasonable answer to this question seems to rely on what has been called the functional view of emotions, arising from (analytic) studies of natural systems. In this paper I examine to what extent this hypothesis can be applied to the (synthetic) investigation of artificial emotions, and some of the implications it has for the design of emotional agents. Introduction Emotions are complex, multifaceted phenomena, the "nature" of which cannot be easily grasped. They encompass neuro-endocrine, physiological, cognitive, and social aspects of behavior. Their study has been undertaken by different disciplines, such as psychology, neurobiology, philosophy, and social and cultural studies, and different aspects have been stressed by diverse research paradigms (see (Cornelius 1996) for an overview). However, if Darwinian, Jamesian, cognitive, social constructivist, and neurobiology approaches focus on different a...

SIM_AGENT is a toolkit that arose out of a project concerned with designing an architecture for an autonomous agent with human-like capabilities. Analysis of