Agents in many disguises ...

Prof.dr. Frances Brazier (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)

Depending on the paradigm in which systems are designed the processing entities are called agents, embedded system, mobile code, peers, ... In almost all cases the entities are independent, can interact with other surrounding systems and can collaboratively perform one or more tasks. Their environments are dynamic, as are their friends and neighbours. Virtual organisations emerge and dissolve. How well do we understand these mechanisms? Are they related?

Computational Intelligence in Multi-Agent Games

Prof.dr. Han La Poutre (Centrum voor Wiskunde en Informatica / Technische Universiteit Eindhoven)

Interactions between autonomous agents can be modeled as e.g. competitive games. Instances of competitive games are e.g. negotiations and auctions. Such games typically occur in a repeated fashion. In order to perform well in the complex settings of multiagent systems, agents have to learn during these repeated games. Computational intelligence techniques are then important techniques for learning agents.

The design of adaptive agents participating in repeated competitive games forms an important research subject. This research aims to be a fundamental answer to the important change of paradigm of ICT in society that is currently taking place: Many independent non-cooperating parties, that are connected by distributed networks, interact continuously in a dynamic and ad-hoc way; the terms for these interactions are set via negotiations and auctions.

Some important issues in the field are the following:
- Design of adaptive agent strategies for competitive games in multiagent systems, like for negotiations, auctions, and dynamic pricing; - Design and evaluation of distribution and allocation mechanisms for e-business and logistics; - Simulation of markets in the fields of ACE (agent-based computational economics).

We illustrate this with some recent research results in the fields of distributed logistics (distributed transportion logistics, distributed patient logistics) and of e-commerce (sales of information services and pricing mechanisms).

From Funny Logics via Funny Programming Languages to Funny Applications

Prof.dr. John-Jules Meyer (Universiteit Utrecht)

A decade ago at the official start of SIKS I talked about our research on 'funny' logics, viz. modal logics to describe and specify intelligent systems, and agent-based systems in particular. In this talk I'll sketch the development of our research since then: we have turned to the development of a programming language based on those logics and now we are looking at promising 'funny' applications!

Artefacts and Workspaces for the Engineering of Multiagent Systems

Prof.dr. Andrea Omicini (University of Bologna)

Shaping shared workspace is a key issue in human organisations. In the same way, shaping the environment in terms of the artefacts constituting the agent workspace is a central issue in the engineering of a multiagent system (MAS). In this talk, we introduce the notions of artefact for MASs and agent workspace, then discuss some cognitive aspects of the relationship between agents and artefacts. Afterward, we sketch the basic elements of a theory of artefacts, and draw some consequences in terms of theory and practice of MAS engineering.