Intelligent Agents VII. Agent Theories Architectures and Languages: 7th International Workshop, ATAL 2000, Boston, MA, USA, July 7-9, 2000. Proceedings (Lecture Notes in Computer Science)

Intelligent agents are one of the most important developments in computer science of the past decade. Agents are of interest in many important application areas, ranging from human-computer interaction to industrial process control. The ATAL workshop series aims to bring together researchers interested in the core/micro aspects of agent technology. Speci?cally, ATAL addresses issues such as theories of agency, software architectures for intelligent agents, methodologies and programming languages for r- lizing agents, and software tools for applying and evaluating agent systems. One of the strengthsoftheATALworkshopseriesisitsemphasisonthesynergiesbetweentheories, languages, architectures, infrastructures, methodologies, and formal methods. This year s workshop continued the ATAL trend of attracting a large number of high quality submissions. In more detail, 71 papers were submitted to the ATAL 2000 workshop, from 21 countries. After stringent reviewing, 22 papers were accepted for publication and appear in these proceedings. As with previous workshops in the series, we chose to emphasize what we perceive asimportantnewthemesinagentresearch. Thisyear sthemeswerebothassociatedwith the fact that the technology of intelligent agents and multi-agent systems is beginning to migrate from research labs to software engineering centers. As agents are deployed in applications such as electronic commerce, and start to take over responsibilities for their human users, techniques for controlling their autonomy become crucial. As well, the availability of tools that facilitate the design and implementation of agent systems becomes an important factor in how rapidly the technology will achieve widespread use. Optimistic And Disjunctive Agent Design Problems / Michael Wooldridge And Paul E. Dunne -- Updating Mental States From Communication / A. F. Dragoni, P. Giorgini And L. Serafini -- Sensing Actions, Time, And Concurrency In The Situation Calculus / Stephen Zimmerbaum And Richard Scherl -- Developing Multiagent Systems With Agenttool / Scott A. Deloach And Mark Wood -- Layered Disclosure: Revealing Agents' Internals / Patrick Riley, Peter Stone And Manuela Veloso -- Architectures And Idioms: Making Progress In Agent Design / Joanna Bryson And Lynn Andrea Stein -- Developing Multi-agent Systems With Jade / Fabio Bellifemine, Agostino Poggi And Giovanni Rimassa -- High-level Robot Control Through Logic / Murray Shanahan And Mark Witkowski -- Determining The Envelope Of Emergent Agent Behaviour Via Architectural Transformation / Oswaldo Teran, Bruce Edmonds And Steve Wallis -- Delegation And Responsibility / Timothy J. Norman And Chris Reed --^ Agent Theory For Team Formation By Dialogue / Frank Dignum, Barbara Dunin-keplicz And Rineke Verbrugge -- Task Coordination Paradigms For Information Agents / Marian Nodine, Damith Chandrasekara And Amy Unruh -- Plan Analysis For Autonomous Sociological Agents / Michael Luck And Mark D'inverno -- Multiagent Bidding Mechanisms For Robot Qualitative Navigation / Carles Sierra, Ramon Lopez De Mantaras And Didac Busquets -- Performance Of Coordinating Concurrent Hierarchical Planning Agents Using Summary Information / Bradley J. Clement And Edmund H. Durfee -- Agent Programming With Declarative Goals / Koen V. Hindriks, Frank S. De Boer And Wiebe Van Der Hoek / [et Al.] -- Modeling Multiagent Systems With Casl -- Feature Interaction Resolution Application / Steven Shapiro And Yves Lesperance -- Generalised Object-oriented Concepts For Inter-agent Communication / Rogier M. Van Eijk, Frank S. De Boer And Wiebe Van Der Hoek / [et Al.] --^ Specification Of Heterogeneous Agent Architectures / Simone Marini, Maurizio Martelli And Viviana Mascardi / [et Al.] -- Improving Choice Mechanisms Within The Bvg Architecture / Luis Antunes, Joao Faria And Helder Coelho -- Planning-task Transformations For Soft Deadlines / Sven Koenig -- An Architectural Framework For Integrated Multiagent Planning, Reacting, And Learning / Gerhard Weiss -- Panel Summary: Agent Development Tools / Joanna Bryson, Keith Decker And Scott A. Deloach / [et Al.] -- Again On Agents' Autonomy: A Homage To Alan Turing -- Panel Chair's Statement / Cristiano Castelfranchi -- Autonomy As Decision-making Control / K. Suzanne Barber And Cheryl E. Martin -- Autonomy: Theory, Dimensions, And Regulation / Rino Falcone -- Situated Autonomy / Henry Hexmoor -- Autonomy: A Nice Idea In Theory / Michael Luck And Mark D'inverno -- Adjustable Autonomy: A Response / Milind Tambe, David Pynadath And Paul Scerri. Cristiano Casterfranchi, Yves Lespérance (eds.) Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Optimistic and Disjunctive Agent Design Problems....Pages 1-14 Updating Mental States from Communication....Pages 15-30 Sensing Actions, Time, and Concurrency in the Situation Calculus....Pages 31-45 Developing Multiagent Systems with agentTool....Pages 46-60 Layered Disclosure: Revealing Agents’ Internals....Pages 61-72 Architectures and Idioms: Making Progress in Agent Design....Pages 73-88 Developing Multi-agent Systems with JADE....Pages 89-103 High-Level Robot Control through Logic....Pages 104-121 Determining the Envelope of Emergent Agent Behaviour via Architectural Transformation....Pages 122-135 Delegation and Responsibility....Pages 136-149 Agent Theory for Team Formation by Dialogue....Pages 150-166 Task Coordination Paradigms for Information Agents....Pages 167-181 Plan Analysis for Autonomous Sociological Agents....Pages 182-197 Multiagent Bidding Mechanisms for Robot Qualitative Navigation....Pages 198-212 Performance of Coordinating Concurrent Hierarchical Planning Agents Using Summary Information....Pages 213-227 Agent Programming with Declarative Goals....Pages 228-243 Modeling Multiagent Systems with CASL - A Feature Interaction Resolution Application....Pages 244-259 Generalised Object-Oriented Concepts for Inter-agent Communication....Pages 260-274 Specification of Heterogeneous Agent Architectures....Pages 275-289 Improving Choice Mechanisms within the BVG Architecture....Pages 290-304 Planning-Task Transformations for Soft Deadlines....Pages 305-319 An Architectural Framework for Integrated Multiagent Planning, Reacting, and Learning....Pages 320-330 Panel Summary: Agent Development Tools....Pages 331-338 Again on Agents’ Autonomy: A Homage to AlanTuring — Panel Chair’s Statement....Pages 339-342 Autonomy as Decision-Making Control....Pages 343-345 Autonomy: Theory, Dimensions, and Regulation....Pages 346-348 Situated Autonomy....Pages 349-350 Autonomy: A Nice Idea in Theory....Pages 351-353 Adjustable Autonomy: A Response....Pages 354-356 This book is the seventh in the successful line of Intelligent Agents volumes published in LNAI. It is based on the seventh workshop on Agent Theories, Architectures, and Languages, ATAL '99, held in Boston, MA, USA in July 1999. The 21 revised full papers included were selected from a total of 71 submissions during two rounds of reviewing. Also included are one panel summary and the statements of panelists participating in another panel held during ATAL 2000. The book is divided into topical sections on agent theories; agent development tools and platforms; models of agent communication and coordination; autonomy and models of agent coordination; agent languages; and planning, decision making, and learning. This state-of-the-art survey is essential reading for anyone interested in agent technology We are interested in building agents that can autonomously act to accomplish tasks on our behalf in complex, unpredictable environments.