Course details

Agent and Multiagent Systems

AGS Acad. year 2006/2007 Summer semester 5 credits

Current academic year

Concepts of artificial agent and multiagent systems, reactive and rational agents. The basic architectures of agent systems, layered architecture, subsumptional architecture. Agent's mental states, intentional systems and their models. BDI system architectures. Communication in multiagent systems, KQML and ACL languages, the basic interaction protocols. Physical and mental conflicts, general approaches to conflict solving, voting, negotiation and argumentation. Coordination behaviour. Methods for distributed planning. Social aspects of agent behaviour, terms obligation and norm. FIPA abstract platform, agent's life cycle. Proposal and realization of multiagent systems, GAIA methodology and JADE implementation tool.

Guarantor

Zbořil František, doc. Ing., Ph.D. (DITS)

Language of instruction

Czech

Completion

Examination

Time span

  • 26 hrs lectures
  • 13 hrs pc labs
  • 13 hrs projects

Department

Department of Intelligent Systems (UITS)

Subject specific learning outcomes and competences

Course graduate gains knowledge about recent approaches to building models with intelligent autonomous entities - agents.

Learning objectives

The aim of this course is to acquaint students with principles of operations and with designs of systems with agents - autonomous intelligent entities.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

It is necessary to have fundamental knowledge of formal logic, artificial intelligence, system modelling and programming for this course.

Study literature

    1. Ferber, J.: Multi-Agent Systems, 1999, Adisson-Wesley, UK, ISBN 0-201-36048-9
    2. Russel, S., Norvig, P.: Artificial Intelligence, a Modern Approach, Pearson Education Inc.,  2003, ISBN 0-13-080302-2
    3. Wooldridge, M.: Reasoning about Rational Agents, 2000, The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, ISBN 0-262-23213-8

Syllabus of lectures

  1. Introduction to distributed artificial intelligence. Concepts of agent, environment, agent classification.
  2. Formal approaches to the agent systems. Modal logics, Epistemic, Temporal, CTL and BDI logics.
  3. Rational agent, agent's mental states, IRMA, PRS, dMARS architectures.
  4. Multiagent systems (MAS), principles of cooperation, game theory for multiagent systems.
  5. Coalition forming, obligations and norms. Joint mental states.
  6. Communication in MAS, KQML and ACL languages, interaction protocols.
  7. Negotiation, argumentation, task distribution, resources, goals and information sharing within MAS.
  8. MAS modelling. Agent's roles, AUML, GAIA.
  9. Realisation of the MAS. FIPA abstract architecture.
  10. Implementation tools: FIPA-OS, JADE, ZEUS.
  11. Security in MAS.
  12. Building of simulation models of MAS.
  13. Recent advances and trends in MAS.

Progress assessment

Study evaluation is based on marks obtained for specified items. Minimimum number of marks to pass is 50.

Controlled instruction

  • Mid-Term written test
  • Individual project
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