Abstract
In this paper we identify challenges that confront the largescale multi-agent system (LMAS) designer, and claim that these challenges can be successfully addressed by agent-based software engineering (ABSE), which we consider to be distinct from object-oriented software engineering for multi-agent systems (OOSE for MAS) in its consideration of agent goal, role, context and attitude as first class objects. We show how we have discovered these principles through our experiences in developing the RETSINA multi-agent system, in implementing specific test applications, and in the derivation of three distinct architectures that help guide and describe the designs of our systems: the individual agent architecture, the functional architecture, and the infrastructure architecture.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
D. Brugali and K. Sycara. Agent technology: A new frontier for the development of application frameworks? In M. Fayad, D. Schmidt, and R. Johnson, editors, Object-Oriented Application Frameworks. John Wiley, 1998.
C. Castelfranchi. Modelling social action for AI agents. Applied Artificial Intelligence, 103:157–182, 1998.
L. Chen and K. Sycara. WebMate: A personal agent for browsing and searching. In Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems (ICMAS-98), May 1998.
DAML-S Coalition. DAML-S: Semantic markup for web service. In Proceedings of the International Semantic Web Workshop (SWWS-01), 2001.
DAML-S Coalition. DAML-S: Web service description for the semantic web. In The First International Semantic Web Conference (ISWC-02), 2002.
DARPA CoABS Program. Grid web site. http://coabs.globalinfotek.com/, 2000.
K. Decker, A. Pannu, K. Sycara, and M. Williamson. Designing behaviors for information agents. In Proceedings of the First International Conference on Autonomous Agents (Agents 1997), February 1997. 0-89791-877-0/97/02.
G. Economou, M. Paolucci, M. Tsvetovat, and K. Sycara. Interaction without commitments: An initial approach. In Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Autonomous Agents (Agents 2001), 2001.
T. Finin, Y. Labrou, and J. Mayfield. KQML as an agent communication language. In J. Bradshaw, editor, Software Agents. MIT Press, Cambridge, 1997.
A. F. Garcia and C. J. P. de Lucena. Software engineering for large-scale multiagent systems SELMAS 2002. ACM Software Engineering Notes, 27(5):82–88, September 2002.
J. A. Giampapa, O. Juarez-Espinosa, and K. Sycara. Configuration management for multi-agent systems. In Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Autonomous Agents (Agents 2001), pages 230–231. Association for Computing Machinery, June 2001. ISBN: 1-58113-326-X.
J. A. Giampapa, M. Paolucci, and K. Sycara. Agent interoperation across multagent system boundaries. In Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Autonomous Agents (Agents 2000). Association for Computing Machinery, June 2000. ISBN: 1-58113-230-1.
J. A. Giampapa and K. Sycara. Conversational case-based planning for agent team coordination. In Case-Based Reasoning Research and Development: Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Case-Based Reasoning (ICCBR 2001), volume 2080, pages 189–203, Berlin Heidelberg, July 2001. Springer-Verlag.
J. A. Giampapa and K. Sycara. Team-oriented agent coordination in the RETSINA multi-agent system. Technical Report CMU-RI-TR-02-34, The Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, December 2002. Presented at AAMAS 2002 Workshop on Teamwork and Coalition Formation.
M. Greaves, H. Holback, and J. Bradshaw. What is a conversation policy? In Agents-99: Workshop on Specifying and Implementing Conversation Policies, 1999.
M. J. Huber, S. Kumar, P. R. Cohen, and D. R. McGee. A formal semantics for proxy communicative acts. In Agent Theories, Architectures and Languages (ATAL-01), 2001.
N. Jennings, K. Sycara, and M. Wooldridge. A roadmap of agent research and development. Journal of Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems (JAAMAS), 1(1):275–306, 1998.
B. Kuntz and K. Rajan. MIGSOCK: Migratable TCP socket in Linux. Master’s thesis, Information Networking Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, February 2002. TR 2001-4.
B. Langley, M. Paolucci, and K. Sycara. Discovery of infrastructure in multi-agent systems. In Agents-2001 Workshop on Infrastructure of Agents, MAS and Scalable MAS, 2001.
D. Martin, A. Cheyer, and D. Moran. The open agent architecture: A framework for building distributed software systems. Applied Artificial Intelligence, 13(1–2):92–128, 1999.
M. Paolucci, O. Shehory, and K. Sycara. Interleaving planning and execution in a multiagent team planning environment. Technical Report CMU-RI-TR-00-01, The Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, 2000.
J. Rumbaugh, M. Blaha, W. Premerlani, F. Eddy, and W. Lorensen. Object-Oriented Modeling and Design. Prentice-Hall International, Inc., 1991.
O. Shehory and K. Sycara. The RETSINA Communicator. In Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Autonomous Agents (Agents 2000), 2000.
O. Shehory, K. Sycara, P. Chalasani, and S. Jha. Increasing resource utilization and task performance by agent cloning. In M. S. V. A. Rao and M. Wooldridge, editors, In Lecture Notes in AI: Intelligent Agents. Springer Verlag, 1998.
M. P. Singh. Agent communication languages: Rethinking the principles. IEEEComputer, 11, 1998.
I. Smith, P. Cohen, J. Bradshaw, M. Greaves, and H. Holmback. Designing conversation policies using joint intention theory. In Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems (ICMAS-98). IEEE Press, 1998.
R. G. Smith. The contract net protocol: High-level communication and control in a distributed problem solver. IEEE Transactions on Computers, 29(12):1104–1113, 1980.
K. Sycara. Multiagent systems. AI Magazine, 19(2):79–92, Summer 1998.
K. Sycara, K. Decker, A. Pannu, M. Williamson, and D. Zeng. Distributed intelligent agents. IEEE Expert, Intelligent Systems and their Applications, 11(6):36–45, 1996.
K. Sycara, K. Decker, and M. Williamson. Middle-agents for the internet. In IJCAI-97, 1997.
K. Sycara, M. Klusch, S. Wido., and J. Lu. Dynamic service matchmaking among agents in open information environments. Journal ACM SIGMOD Record, A. Ouksel, A. Sheth (Eds.), 28(1):47–53, March 1999.
K. Sycara, M. Paolucci, M. van Velsen, and J. Giampapa. The RETSINA MAS Infrastructure. Joint Special Issue of Autonomous Agents and MAS, 7(1–2), July 2003. forthcoming.
M. Tambe. Towards flexible teamwork. JAIR, 7:83–124, 1997.
M. Tsvetovat, K. Sycara, Y. Chen, and J. Ying. Customer coalitions in the electronic marketplace. In Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Autonomous Agents (Agents 2000), June 2000.
J. Waldo, G. Wyant, A. Wollrath, and S. Kendall. A note on distributed computing. Technical Report SMLI TR-94-29, Sun Microsystems Laboratories, 1999.
H.-C. Wong. Protecting Individuals’ Interests in Electronic Commerce Protocols. PhD thesis, Computer Science Deptartment, Carnegie Mellon University, 2000.
H. C. Wong and K. Sycara. Adding security and trust to multi-agent systems. In Agents-99 Workshop on Deception, Fraud and Trust in Agent Societies, 1999.
H.-C. Wong and K. Sycara. A Taxonomy of Middle-agents for the Internet. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems (ICMAS-00), 2000.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2003 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Sycara, K., Giampapa, J.A., Langley, B., Paolucci, M. (2003). The RETSINA MAS, a Case Study. In: Garcia, A., Lucena, C., Zambonelli, F., Omicini, A., Castro, J. (eds) Software Engineering for Large-Scale Multi-Agent Systems. SELMAS 2002. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 2603. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-35828-5_15
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-35828-5_15
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-08772-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-35828-2
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive