Publication

Working Notes of the KI'96 Workshop on Agent-Oriented Programming and Distributed Systems

Klaus Fischer (Hrsg.)

DFKI, DFKI Documents (D), Vol. 96-06, 1996.

Abstract

Distributed AI (DAI) and Multiagent Systems (MAS) are nowadays not only integrated into the programme of any national and international AI conference but in many application domains the developed techniques are already applied in practical applications. Intelligent agents raise requirements to interaction abilities that go far beyond the pure functional interoperability. When pursuing local or global goals, agents must be able to coordinate their activities, exchange knowledge, and resolve conflicts. Recently new technologies were developed which are likely to influence DAI and MAS research. This is especially true with industrial standards like ODP, OMG, and CORBA with respect to distributed object-oriented systems from which at least some of the MAS development tools have emerged. New programming languages for `mobile agents' (e.g., Java, Telescript etc.) stimulate current research. The goal is now to develop agent architectures which meet the requirements of these standards and innovations with respect to openness, tractability, and security aspects. We require tools for agent-oriented software development and it is necessary to develop methodologies to validate MAS. The papers in these working notes present subjects like: - usefulness of object-oriented analysis and design methodologies for MAS - coordination of active agents in open systems - communication concepts for MAS - agent-oriented perspectives to ODB, OMG, and CORBA - usefulness of Java to describe and implement agents in a MAS The overall goal of the workshop is to stimulate the discussion on how the new developments can be effectively integrated into the current research work.