Sun is developing software to support 
-- AGENTS IN VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS --
One compelling use of the Internet has been to allow people to interact in "virtual environments" such as MUDs and MOOs. This has mostly been used for entertainment (and is a good way for today's college students to avoid working on that paper, problem set or program) but has great potential for practical applications. DARPA, for example, is funding some work under the Computer Aided Education and Training Initiative program which explores the uses of MUDs and MOOs as collaborative spaces for training and education. These virtual environments will be enhanced by the inclusion of artificial agents.Sandia is using agents for training
Sandia's
Virtual Reality/ Intelligent Simulation Laboratory is using
scriptable agents and human controlled avatars in VR scenarios to
train small team, close quarters operations. Their interest is in
training a person to handle a specific situation or set of scenarios,
rather than to perform a given task. In some of this work, "virtual
actors" are used as an instructor under the control of the trainee
(e.g., a trainee may ask the system to illustrate the proper way to
carry out a particular procedure) and to populate the simulation with
semi-autonomous agents.
MERL explores "social virtual reality"
The Mitsubishi Electronic Research Laboratory ( MERL ) is focused on
exploring "social virtual reality", where the the emphasis is on the
interaction among people in virtual environments, rather than on
maximizing the perceptual realism of an individual experience using
special input and output devices. "At MERL, we envision group
learning environments where people learn from each other and teachers,
and by interacting with computer simulations. We envision
collaborative work environments where people at different locations
interact with each other and shared, computer-simulated artifacts to
design a machine, plan a large-scale disaster relief effort, or
diagnose a complex equipment failure. We envision on-line play
environments where people participate in distributed games, historical
dramas, or create virtual microcosms for each other's entertainment."
See Research on Social
Virtual Reality: Diamond Park and SPLINE -- What's beyond
head-mounted displays and combat games?
Penn's Center for Human Modeling and Simulation
Center for Human Modeling and Simulation at the University of Pennsylvania has historically focused on making it easy to creating (graphical) animations of humans in realistic environments.
A major result is
Jack -- a software package that provides a 3D interactive
environment for controlling articulated figures and featuring a
detailed human model with realistic behavioral controls,
anthropometric scaling, task animation and evaluation systems, view
analysis, automatic reach and grasp, collision detection and
avoidance, and many other useful tools for a wide range of
applications. Work has progressed to the point where Jack and other
animations are getting agent-like properties. For example, the
BookMark project is trying to "develop a system which automatically
generates and animates conversations between multiple cooperative
agents with appropriate and synchronized speech, intonation, facial
expressions, and hand gestures."
'bots
In the strange world of Muds and MOOs, "A bot is a computer program
which logs into a MUD and pretends to be a human being. Some of them,
like Julia, are pretty clever -- legend has it that Julia's fooled
people into believing that she's human. Others have less
functionality. The most common bot program is the Maas-Neotek
model." ( MUD
FAQ). Even clever Julia is rather
primitive as an intentional agent so there is a lot of room for
interesting developments here. See "Bots
'n the MOO: Conversational Robots" by Susan Jacobson for one
description of what this is like.
-- AGENT TECHNOLOGY --
ThoughtTreasure
ThoughtTreasure is a tool set developed by Erik Mueller for writing agents to process text on the Internet. Includes subagents for parsing words, phrases, ends of sentences, human names, usernames, email addresses, email headers, Usenet newsgroup names, Usenet attributions, communicons, times and dates, telephone numbers, titles of books/songs/films, product names. (MORE).Life after AT&T for General Magic's telescript
Tom
Hershenson, Marketing Communications Liaison of General Magic, points
out that companies other that AT&T have licensed Telescript technology
for commercial use. "In fact, AT&T does not have exclusive rights
to Telescript technology, and recent developments underscore General
Magic's continuing efforts to propagate Telescript technology and
establish it as an open standard for mobile agents. In October,
France-Telecom licensed Telescript for commercial use. In January of
this year, General Magic announced and made freely available through
our Web site the initial version of our Telescript Active Web Tools
for developing Web-based Telescript applications on the Web. In
February, the Dutch telecommunications provider PTT Telecom licensed
Telescript (MORE)
technology, becoming the second Europe network operator to do so. In
March, NTT FAN began operations in Japan of its Paseo (MORE) online
service, a trial network service based on Telescript."
-- NEW AGENTS ON THE NET --
Stanford's Sift goes commercial
Stanford is transferring its SIFT internet searching
service to InReference -- a
Sunnyvale startup (1994) with a mission of enhancing the use of the
Internet as an information dissemination, collaboration and reference
resource. Under InReference, the service will search a 6+ month
archive of more than 13,000 news-groups and a large (>1000 lists)
archive of publicly-accessible mailing lists. In addition, more
advanced search capabilities will be supported. The service will
continue to be free.
ZooWorks
Hitachi's ZooWorks automatically records and indexes each Web site and HTML document a user visits and captures this data in an easy to use personal index.InfoTicker
InfoTicker is a real time agent written in Java for extracting data
(stock market quotes, weather, classified ad, ...) from web pages and
Usenet groups. It was implemented by Erik Mueller (erik@panix.com). Users can add their
own data sources using a simple language for specifying where to go to
get data and how to parse it.
DocuMagix's HotPage
DocuMagix's HotPage is a Netscape Navigator plug-in which helps users capture and organize the information from the Web. They say, " With DocuMagix HotPage, you can view saved Web pages off-line within the Netscape Navigator viewer, link back to the original site(s) without needing to remember the exact URL, organize Web pages intuitively, merge them with other Windows documents, search your entire cabinet for a particular Web page that contains reference(s) to a particular topic, forward a Web page document by fax or e- mail (inside your company), mark annotations on a Web document, or even add URL links to any Windows documents." A white paper "The Next Step In Internet Information Management" is available.diffAgent by CMU and Industry.Net
diffAgent is a system developed at CMU and Industry.Net Corporation that
can monitor web sites for specific changes. For example, you can ask it
to track a specific package at Fedex and ask it to notify you when the
package has been delivered. The system will continuously monitor the
status for you and send you an email when it detects the triggering
event.
-- AGENT PROJECTS AND GROUPS --
ADEPT: Advanced Decision Environment for Process Tasks
ADEPT: Advanced Decision Environment for Process Tasks
is a project of the DAI group at Queen Mary and Westfield College,
London. It is modeling business processes as a collections of
autonomous, problem solving agents which interact when they have
interdependencies. A recent paper is: N. R. Jennings, P. Faratin,
M. J. Johnson, P. O'Brien, M. E. Wiegand:
"Using Intelligent Agents to Manage Business Processes",
Proc. First Int. Conf. on The Practical Application of Intelligent
Agents and Multi-Agent Technology (PAAM96),pp. 345-360. London, UK.
Simple HTML Ontology Extensions
SHOE or Simple HTML Ontology Extensions is a project of the University of Maryland at College Park's Parallel Understanding Systems Group. SHOE is a proposed small extension to HTML which allows HTML authors to annotate their web documents with formal knowledge-representation semantics. SHOE is meant to make real intelligent agents on the web possible. [web ontology]Tulsa DIA-Hards
Sandip Sen at the University of Tulsa heads a research group (DAI-hards) which is working on intelligent distributed scheduling and multiagent learning and adaptation. A number of papers are available on-line.Open the pod bay doors, please, Cog
Cog
ia a "humanoid robot" being built at The Cog Shop, in the
MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab. The motivation behind creating Cog
is the hypothesis that "Humanoid intelligence requires humanoid
interactions with the world.". For more information, see --
Brooks, Rodney A., and Lynn Andrea Stein, Building
Brains for Bodies, MIT AI Lab Memo #1439, August
1993. [postscript, compressed, 16 pages].
-- AGENT RESOURCES ON THE WEB --
The PC AI magazine maintains an PC AI - Intelligent Agents page as well as other pages on AI topics.One of the biggest list of pointers to web robots, spiders, wanderers, indexers, etc. by Martijn Koster, m.koster@webcrawler.com.
-- AGENT PAPERS --
Knowbots and Interactive Television
Knowbots and Interactive Television -- The Knowbotic-Interface-Project as challenge to AI. An abbreviated version of a lecture, held within the context of a workshop on "Interactive TV" at the Institute for New Media, Frankfurt June 7, 1994 by by Dr. Gerd Döben-Henisch, Institute for New Media, Frankfurt. The task of the project is the automatic translation of natural linguistic texts into images of a pictorial world. This is made possible by using knowbots. Knowbots are intelligent programs which can be "educated". They live in virtual realities and are capable of accumulating knowledge about the world on their own. Relative to this knowledge, they are able to learn any natural language.Agent-Based Engineering, the Web, and Intelligence
Agent-Based Engineering, the Web, and Intelligence,Charles J. Petrie Stanford Center for Design Research, 1996. Abstract: We describe the use of KQML-like Agents and their compatibility with the World-Wide Web. One distinguishing characteristic of such agents is the necessity for a peer-to-peer protocol vs. the client-server protocol of HTTP. This is indicative of a major conflict between the web and agent paradigms that must be resolved for integration of the two technologies, both of which are useful for design and engineering applications. We also note that "intelligence" is not a necessary property of useful agents and is not helpful in distinguishing agents from other kinds of software.Voyager: Agents of Alienation
Voyager: Agents of Alienation, Jaron Lanier. "Here is the opinion: that the idea of "intelligent agents" is both wrong and evil. I also believe that this is an issue of real consequence to the near term future of culture and society. As the infobahn rears its gargantuan head, the agent question looms as a deciding factor in whether this new beast will be much better than TV, or much worse."Coordination without Communication
Coordination without Communication , Stan Franklin, University of Memphis, 1996. Abstract: Here we examine situations in which coordinated behaviors occur without prior planning via communication. Such situations are both common and effective in multi-agent systems, be they biological or computational. Such coordination results from stigmergic sampling of the environment and responding to it. We conclude that stigmergic coordination without communication should be considered as a control architecture when designing multi-agent systems.MAAMAW'93 Papers
From Reaction to Cognition -- Multi-Agent World - MAAMAW'93, edited by Cristiano Castefranchi and Jean-Pierre Muller, Springer-Verlag (ISBN 3-540-58698-9).Multi-Agent System Protocol Language Specification
Multi-Agent System Protocol Language Specification, Alejandro Quintero, MarAa Eugenia Ucr"s and Silvia Takahashi, Universidad de los Andes. Abstract: " ... The language described in this article allows the specification of different interaction protocols that may have entities which belong to a multi-agent modeled system. To show an application of the language, we show a system that models the interaction of a research group, where some specific members want to validate or dissolve a hypothesis formulated by an author. This mechanism is represented as a consensual knowledge base. Consensual knowledge bases are supporting tools to exchange ideas and knowledge between group members and/or different groups or entities (researchers, organizations, etc.). ... This language allows the formal design of the interaction protocols between agents, using modal logic operators, world state modeling, and actions' sequentiality and concurrency.Open Protocol in Multi-agent Systems
Open Protocol in Multi-agent Systems , Gerard A. W. Vreeswijk, Limburg University, Belgium. Abstract: Protocols for intelligent agents are difficult to write. This is partially because intelligent agents accommodate their interaction to the situation that arises. As a result, the interaction among intelligent agents cannot be governed by a fixed protocol. In this paper I describe an open protocol paradigm for reasoning in a multi-agent system with decentralized control. An open protocol is a collection of rules of interaction that lies open to further alteration and adjustment. I explore the notion of open protocol, and show how it can be altered by rational claims. This may lead to further insights concerning the government of interaction among intelligent agents in multi-agent systems. (compressed postscript)Self-government in multi-agent systems: experiments and thought-experiments
Self-government in multi-agent systems: experiments and thought-experiments, Gerard A.W. Vreeswijk University of Limburg, Belgium. Abstract: This paper reports on research in self-modifying protocol games. A self-modifying protocol is a set of instructions, rules, or conventions, that can be changed by the systems that communicate with the help of that protocol. The concept is expected to be of great importance for the next generation of intelligent distributed computer systems, such as DPSs, and MASs. This paper tries to show by example that a self-modifying protocol leads to self-governmental behavior in intelligent distributed computer systems. It further hints at the possible avenues future research might take, and indicates how theoretical results can be obtained. (Postscript)Distributed Computing: Let Your Agent Handle It
Distributed Computing: Let Your Agent Handle It, Dan Richman, Techweb, April 17, 1995. Software agents will sweat the details when users lack the time and patience needed to tackle routine and repetitive business chores.Co-operative Information Retrieval in Digital Libraries
Co-operative Information Retrieval in Digital Libraries. Michail Salampasis, John Tait, Chris Bloor, University of Sunderland, UK. Abstract: ... In this paper, we present an open agent-based hypermedia model for distributed digital libraries, but we mainly focus on a technique for using dynamic links, known as co-operative retrieval links, and the implication of this technique for the process and nature of distributed information retrieval.(Postscript).Communication and Cooperation in Agent Systems: A Pragmatic Theory
Afsaneh Haddadi, Communciation and Cooperation in Agent Systems: A Pragmatic Theory. Springer Verlag, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, No. 1056 Year: 1996 ISBN 3-540-61044-8.The Role of Brokers in Electronic Commerce
The Role of Brokers in Electronic Commerce, Paul Resnick, MIT's The Center for Coordination Science (CCS)Internet Consultant: An Integrated Conversational Agent for Internet Exploration
Internet Consultant: An Integrated Conversational Agent for Internet Exploration, Mitsuyuki Inaba, University of Hawaii at Manoa. Abstract: Internet Consultant (IC) is a natural language system that helps the user to explore the internet resources. Externally IC behaves as a conversational agent that assists World Wide Web browsing. Internally it is a multi-agent system which consists of the following three agents; 1) Natural language interface (NLI) agent that understands user's utterance and extracts his/her goals, 2) Planning agent that generates and executes plans to achieve the goals, and 3) Information agent that chooses appropriate information resources on the Internet and retrieves required information from the resources. Since IC utilizes local databases as well as resources provided on the Internet as knowledge bases, theoretically it has unlimited knowledge bases.Ontology-Based Knowledge Discovery on the World-Wide Web
Ontology-Based Knowledge Discovery on the World-Wide Web. Sean Luke, Lee Spector, and David Rager. To appear in the AAAI96 Workshop on Internet-based Information Systems, 1996. Also available in Gzipped PostScript Format (.ps.gz). Abstract: This paper describes SHOE, a set of Simple HTML Ontology Extensions. SHOE allows World-Wide Web authors to annotate their pages with ontology-based knowledge about page contents. We present examples showing how the use of SHOE can support a new generation of knowledge-based search and knowledge discovery tools that operate on the World-Wide Web.Robots in the Web: threat or treat?
Robots in the Web: threat or treat?, Martijn Koster, NEXOR,ConneXions, Volume 9, No. 4, April 1995. Abstract: Robots have been operating in the World-Wide Web for over a year. In that time they have performed useful tasks, but also on occasion wreaked havoc on the networks. This paper investigates the advantages and disadvantages of robots, with an emphasis on robots used for resource discovery. New alternative resource discovery strategies are discussed and compared. It concludes that while current robots will be useful in the immediate future, they will become less effective and more problematic as the Web grows.A Common Agent Platform
A Common Agent Platform , Jim White, General Magic, 11 March 1996. Submitted to the Joint W3C/OMG Workshop on Distributed Objects and Mobile Code.-- AGENT CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS --
Intelligent Systems: A Semiotic Perspective
Intelligent Systems: A Semiotic Perspective, October 20-23, 1996, Gaithersburg, MD, USA. "Semiotics is considered a major theoretical approach for explaining and developing tools for modeling intelligent systems, a tool which is applicable to a multiplicity of scientific disciplines involved in the study of intelligence, but at the same time, a tool which is deeply and intrinsically interlaced with the object to which it is applied."Cooperative Information Systems
The First IFCIS International Conference on Cooperative Information Systems (CoopIS'96) will be held in Brussels, Belgium on June 19th - 21st, 1996. The program brochure, preliminary program, and registration form are available on-line.Intelligent User Interfaces '97
IUI'97: 1997 International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces, Hilton at Walt Disney World Village, Orlando, Florida USA - January 6-9 1997.Practical Aspects of Knowledge Management Workshops
Several agent-relevant workshops will be held in conjunction with First International Conference on Practical Aspects of Knowledge Management (PAKM), Basel, Switzerland, October 30-31, 1996. The workshops are:-- AGENTNEWS NEWS --
