Programming Agents Williams

7/29/2019 Programming Agents Williams

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Programming Agents

Prof. Andrew B. WilliamsUniversity of IowaDept. of Electrical and [email protected]://www.icaen.uiowa.edu/~abwill
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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Goals

Overview of agent programming

Course organization for incrementallearning

C# and .NET as alternative to Java andCORBA


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Outline

Intelligent Agents and Multi-AgentSystems

Teaching Agent Programming

Challenges of using C# and .NET asalternative to Java and CORBA

Homeworks and Projects

Lessons Learned


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Agent Programming

Integrating distributed programmingtechniques and AI tools to create amulti-agent system program

Whats an intelligent agent? Whats a multi-agent system?


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Intelligent Agent

No universally accepted definition

Computational entity such as asoftware program or robot

Operates ,or behaves, flexibly andrationally in a variety of

environmental circumstances Also referred to as autonomous

agent


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Multi-Agent System

A group of problem solvers thatwork together in a loosely coupled

network (Durfee et. al 1989) Greater than their individual

capabilities

Better suited fordynamic, open, andoften unpredictable environments(Sen and Weiss 1998)


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Intelligent Agents and Multi-AgentSystems

(Adapted from G. Berkey and A. Agah)

#Brain

# Body

1

10s

100s +

1 10s 100s +

AI

DAI/

MAS

Multi-agent

control

Machines Multi-machineSystems

Robotics

Distributed

Robotic

Systems

Swarm

Systems

CentralizedControl

Multi-agent

Swarms



Major Characteristics ofMulti-Agent Systems Each agent has incomplete information

Each agent is restricted in its

capabilities System control is distributed

Data is decentralized

Computation is asynchronous



Semantic Web Vision

Semantic Web Data machine understandable not just machine

readable

Distributed, large, open, and heterogeneous

computing platforms and environments

Wired/Wireless world populated by inter-operating agents -- not just data.

Semantic Web is playground of agents (K.Sycara)



Web Services andMAS Research

Deal with similar issues (K.Sycara, CMU)

Must be discovered

Agent matchmaking

Must be selected Learning preference models

Must be involved

Communication Must be composed

Planning and coordination



Distributed IntelligentAgents Course

Senior/Grad Level Course

Approx. 15 students per semester

2 to 4 undergraduates

Traditionally used these technologies:

Java, CORBA, JESS, KQML

Wanted to offer C#, .NET, XML, CLIPS



Teaching Challenges

How to teach C# and .NET along withJava and CORBA?

Should students be forced to learn both?

Limited knowledge of C# and .NET Lacked resources for teaching C# and

.NET



Teaching Agent

Programming Distributed Application Programming

Reasoning Engines

Agent Communication Languages andProtocols

Knowledge Representation &

Ontologies Learning Mechanisms

Other



Alternative ProgrammingLanguage

Gave students option to use Java or C#

Let students know there would be additionalchallenges to using C#

I was not C# expert

But I would support them

Support of Microsoft Univ. Relations Rep

was key Rob Reed



Incremental, hands-onLearning for Students

Construct homeworks to allowstudents to learn C# or Java on theirown

Each homework builds on each other

Final homework integrates conceptslearned and constructed classes



Course Organization Autonomous Agent and MAS theory

and practice Homeworks

Purpose: Learn Java or C# with usefulclasses

Projects

Use Java or C# to program agents

Project 1: SoccerBots

Project 2: DABORAS Project 3: Distributed Intelligent Agent

app

Presentation and Paper



Homework Organization

Homework 1 Web search for IA and MAS

Homework 2

Token frequency counter

String, File,Hashtables, Vectors

Homework 3

URL Retrieval, GUI

Homework 4 Simple Web (crawler) agent

Integrate homeworks 2 and 3



Project 1: SoccerBots

Implement subsumption architecture Incorporate a reasoning engine

JESS

(No CLIPS with C# wrappers)

Double elimination soccer tournament

Windows 2000 Platform

Prizes from Microsoft!


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Project 2: DABORAS

Distributed Agent-Based Online RealtimeAuction System with Instant Messaging

Use .NET Remoting or CORBA

Use C# or Java Use JESS or CLIPS w/ C# wrappers

Use KQML as Agent Communication

Language


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Project 3: DistributedIntelligent Agent App

Students decide on project

Instructor approves topic


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DABORAS

Matchmaker agent Stores auctioned items

Embedded Inference Engine

DABORAS agents Buyer and seller agents

Makes requests to Matchmaker

Update or retrieve info on items Instant messaging for users


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DABORAS- C#TechnologiesUsed

C# and .NET Framework

.NET Remoting

C++ to C# Interoperability


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CLIPS Inference Engine

Rule-based, Forward ChainingReasoning

Implemented in C

No Library wrapper or DLL existed forC#

But one existed for C++


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C# CLIPS Wrapper

New wrapper written using .NETManaged C++

Wrapper compiled into DLL

Became possible to make calls toCLIPS from C#

Scott Stone and Dan McIntyre

(undergrads)


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DABORAS CommunicationArchitecture .NET Remoting used

Makes remote methods available to otherdistributed applications

All arguments serialized and sent overcommunication channel in a SOAPmessage

Peer-to-peer messaging andinformation sharing


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Communication in .NETRemoting Takes places using Channels

Either HTTP or TCP/IP

DABORAS uses HTTP channel All SOAP message info is encoded in XML

and sent via HTTP post messages


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Teaching ChallengesRevisited How to teach C# and .NET along with Java

and CORBA?

Incremental learning and assignments

Let students choose Limited knowledge of C# and .NET

Jump start students

Let them teach themselves

Lacked resources for teaching C# and .NET

Rob Reed or your Univ. equivalent


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Benefits

Instructor learns from students Students gain self-confidence

Microsoft provides cool tools and

useful books Rob Reed (Thanks!)

Students gain valuable, marketable

experience


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Lessons Learned using C# Good alternative to Java

Let students volunteer to use C# Some already know Java and want to learn a

new language

Students must be self-starters and able to

learn on their own Instructor must provide needed resources

(VS.NET, reference books)

Instructor must be up front regarding

challenges of C# Including instructors lack of knowledge

Be understanding of students that chooseC#


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Summary

Gave overview of agent programming Described course organization

Incremental learning

Self-taught programming

Lessons learned using C# and .NET asalternative to Java and CORBA


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Programming Agents Williams

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