A multi-level approach and infrastructure for agent-oriented software development

An architecture, and the accompanying infrastructural support, for agent-based software developement is described which supports the use of agent-oriented ideas at multiple levels of abstraction. At the lowest level are micro-agents, which are robust and efficient implementations of streamlined agents that can be used for many conventional programming tasks. Agents with more sophisticated functionality can be constructed by combining these micro-agents into more complicated agents. Consequently the system supports the consistent use of agent-based ideas throughout the software engineering process, since higher level agents may be hierarchically refined into more detailed agent implementations. We outline how micro-agents are implemented in Java and how they have been used to construct the Opal framework for the construction of more complex agents that are based on the FIPA specifications.Unpublished[1] F. Bellifemine, A. Poggi, and G. Rimassa. JADE - A FIPA-compliant agent framework. http://sharon.cselt.it/projects/jade, 2000. [2] G. Booch. Object Oriented Analysis and Design with Applications. Addison Wesley, 1994. [3] FIPA. FIPA Spec 2 - 1999. Agent Communication Language. Draft, Version 0.1, http://www.fipa.org/specifications/index.html, 16 April 1999. [4] FIPA. Foundation For Intelligent Physical Agents (FIPA). FIPA 2000 specifications. http://www.fipa.org/specifications/index.html, 2000. [5] M. Georgeff and A. S. Rao. A Profile of the Australian Artificial Insititute. IEEE Expert, pages 89–92, December 1996. [6] O. Gutknecht and J. Ferber. Madkit: Organizing heterogeneity with groups in a platform for multiple multi-agent systems, December 1997. Technical Report 97188, LIRMM, 161, rue Ada - Montpellier - France. [7] O. Gutknecht and J. Ferber. MadKit Agent Platform Architecture, May 2000. Technical Report R.R.LIRMM 000xx, 161, rue Ada - Montpellier - France. [8] F. Ingrand and M. Georgeff. Procedural Reasoning System, User Guide. 1991. Australian Artificial Intelligence Institute, 1 Grattan Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia. [9] N. R. Jennings. Agent-oriented software engineering. In Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Industrial and Engineering Applications of AI, pages 4–10, 1999. [10] N. R. Jennings, K. Sycara, and M. Wooldridge. A roadmap of agent research and development. Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems, 1(1):7–38, 1998. [11] N. R. Jennings and M. Wooldridge. Agent-oriented software engineering. In J. Bradshaw, editor, Handbook of Agent Technology. AAAI/MIT Press, 2000. [12] J. Lee, M. J. Huber, P. G. Kenny, and E. H. Durfee. Um-PRS: An implementation of the procedural reasoning system for multirobot applications. In Conference on Intelligent Robotics in Field, Factory, Service, and Space (CIRFFSS), pages 842–849, Houston, Texas, 1994. [13] H. Nwana, D. Ndumu, L. Lee, and J. Collis. ZEUS: A Tool-Kit for Building Distributed Multi-Agent Systems. Applied Artifical Intelligence Journal, 13(1):129–186, 1999. [14] S. Poslad, P. Buckle, and R. Hadingham. The FIPA-OS agent platform: Open source for open standards. In Proceedings of the 5th International Conference and Exhibition on the Practical Application of Intelligent Agents and Multi-Agents, pages 355–368, 2000. [15] J. R. Searl. Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, England, 1969. [16] M. P. Singh. Agent communication languages: Rethinking principles. In IEEE Computer, 0018-9162, pages 40–47. December 1998