ES 595a Information

OBJECTIVES:

The main objective is to provide students with a solid foundation in the field of agent-orientation design and engineering. The course emphasizes on both the theoretical and implementation aspects. The theoretical component includes lectures, readings from reference-books and papers. The course material covers concepts of agenthood, models of coordination, interaction, communication, teamwork and learning among agents. The implementation component includes programming assignments and a term-project. In addition to the hands-on experience, students will examine how these concepts are actually realized by studying several applications of agent and multi-agent systems in various domains.

PREREQUISITES:

Computer Science Fundamentals with emphasis on OO programming language (CS027 or equivalent) Algorithms & data Structures (SE205or equivalent) Software Systems Design (SE203or equivalent) Note: Introductory AI course will be an asset!

COURSE SCHEDULE:

Lectures 3 hrs/week.

TOPICS

Principles

Introduction: Basic Concepts

Coordination, Interaction, and Decision Making

Cooperation and Teaming

Agent Communication

Agents and Multi-agent Systems Architectures

Learning in Agents & Multi-agent Systems

Methodologies & Tools

Agent-Oriented Software Engineering

Agent Development Tools and Platforms

Application Areas/Projects

Cooperative Distributed systems and Web Agents

Agents for Mobile and Ubiquitous Computing

Cooperative Autonomous Robots

Engineering Design and Manufacturing Control

Future Directions for Agents and Multi-Agent Systems

SPECIFIC LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Upon the completion of the course, student should:

• gain a picture of contemporary thinking about agents and especially multi-agent systems, including principles and theory, common practices, and application areas, current and emerging;
• develop some concrete accomplishments in the agents/multi-agent systems arena through a project;
• gain experience and confidence in understanding a new and rapidly evolving technology.

Instructor