Abstract not found

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

Abstract. For two years, we have been involved in a challenging project to develop a new architecture for an industrial transportation system. The motivating quality attributes to develop this innovative architecture were flexibility and openness. Taking these quality attributes into account, we proposed a decentralized architecture using multiagent systems (MASs). A MAS consists of multiple autonomous entities that coordinate with each other to achieve decentralized control. The typical advantages attributed to such decentralized architecture are flexibility and openness, the motivating quality attributes to apply MAS in this case. The Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method (ATAM) was used to provide insights wether our architecture meets the expected flexibility and openness, and to identify tradeoffs with other quality attributes. Applying the ATAM proved to be a valuable experience. One of the main outcome of applying the ATAM was the identification of a tradeoff between flexibility and communication load that results from the use of a decentralized architecture. This paper describes our experiences in applying the ATAM to a MAS architecture, containing both the main outcomes of the evaluation and a critical reflection on the ATAM itself. 1

Abstract. In situated multi-agent systems (situated MASs), agents are explicitly placed in an environment. A situated agent does not not use long-term planning to decide what action sequence should be executed, but selects actions on the basis of its current position, the world it perceives and limited internal state. Situated agents exploit the environment to coordinate their behavior and to reach a common goal. In a recent project, we applied situated MASs to the control of an automated transportation system that uses automatic guided vehicles (AGVs) to transport loads in a warehouse. In contrast to traditional approaches where the AGVs are controlled by a central server, in this project we model the AGVs as agents in a situated MAS, aiming to improve flexibility and openness. Since the physical environment of AGVs is very restricted, it offers little opportunities for agents to use the environment. We introduce a virtual environment for agents to live in. This virtual environment (1) offers a medium that agents can use to exchange information and coordinate their behavior, and (2) serves as a suitable abstraction to shield low-level physical processing from the AGV agents. Since the only infrastructure available to the AGVs is a wireless network, the virtual environment is necessarily distributed over the AGVs. Synchronization of the state of the virtual environment is provided by ObjectPlaces, a middleware infrastructure that offers support to exchange and share information among nodes in mobile and ad-hoc networks. In this paper, we demonstrate how the environment is used creatively in the design of a MAS solution, helping to manage the complexity of engineering a complex real-world application. 1

This paper presents the MIC* model of autonomous agents deployment environment. A practical social software engineering framework based on AGR is also presented to show how MIC* is used to develop MAS applications.

Abstract. Traffic control can be regarded as a multiagent application in which car-agents and traffic-light-agents need to coordinate with each other to optimize the traffic flow and to avoid congestions. Environment abstractions naturally suit this scenario in that agents actions are mainly driven by traffic-related information that are distributed across the environment both at a practical and conceptual level. In this context we present traffic-control mechanisms on the basis of our Co-Fields model and discuss some experimental results we obtained in simulations that validate our proposal. 1

In this paper, we discuss the position of multi-agent systems (MASs) in the software development process. Basically, MASs provide an approach for solving software problems by decomposing a system into a number of autonomous entities, embedded in an environment, which cooperate in order to achieve the functional and non-functional requirements of the system. As such, MASs are in essence a family of software architectures and hence enter the software development picture in the design phase. Coverage and

Within the Multi-agent systems (MASs) paradigm, the concept of the environment plays a central role. In fact, the autonomous agents do only exist when they are deployed on an environment. Still, there is an implicit hypothesis in current trends of the MASs considering that the agents are related to only one environment that captures all the different aspects of the application domain. In this paper we challenge this implicit hypothesis by enabling multiple occurrences of the agent-environment relationship. This brings clarity and modularity for the design and implementation of complex MASs since each environment targets a specific aspect of the application. Thanks to the proposed characterization of the agent-environment relationship, the agents are still offered a unified view about all the environments. Povzetek: Analizira povezave MAS z okoljem in pokaže, da jih je bolje imeti več. 1

Abstract. We investigate the application of a logic-based framework representing an agent environment as a composite structure that evolves over time. Such a complex structure contains the interaction between two main classes of entities: agents and objects. Interactions between these entities are specified in term of events whose occurrence is governed by a set of physical laws specifying the possible evolutions of the environment, including how these evolutions are perceived by agents and affect objects and processes in the environment. We illustrate the work using GOLEM, a protype platform whose aim is to implement the framework to build situated cognitive agents in a distributed environment. 1

Research in Multi-Agent Systems extensively approached observation mechanisms from outside. Agents are black boxes and much work allows inferring internals or collective activities from the observation of their interactions. In this paper, we propose to extend the expressiveness of software agents and enact new observable features. Our framework leads to an extended definition of agent; the central role of a software environment to deal with these agents; and a mechanism we named oversensing to refer to the observation of these agents. This paper presents these notions and provides preliminary insights on their exploitation. 1