Tenix Presentation

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• Autonomous Commercial Industrial
  Applications- based on agents
• Andrew Lucas
• Agent Oriented Software Limited
• AgentLink-AOS020121-publish.ppt
• www.agent-software.co.uk

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Agent Oriented Software Group

• Specialises in providing autonomous software and
  solutions
• Develops and markets intelligent agent products
• International focus now in USA, UK and
  Australia
• Strategic teaming with product partners
• Established 1997
• JACK, the companys core product
• Enabling framework for providing agent
  functionality
• Customers world-wide
• USA, UK, Germany, Japan, France, Italy, Canada,
  Hong Kong and Australia
• Strategic consulting services
• Development and deployment of advanced,
  distributed, real-time software solutions
• RD collaboration
• Universities research laboratories
• in UK, Germany, Italy, Canada, Netherlands, USA
  and Australia
• Defence organisations in UK and Australia

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Agent Oriented SoftwareLimited, UK

• Cambridge Laboratory
• Collaboration with Cambridge University
• Co-located with the Universitys Institute of
  Manufacturing
• First application of an intelligent agent-based
  control system to a robotic assembly system
• Applications
• manufacturing logistics, telecommunications
  defense
• Services European customers

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Agent Oriented Software, Inc.USA

• Applications Center, North America
• Located in Annapolis, MD
• close to Washington, DC
• Applications
• telecommunications, defense, web-based service
  delivery
• Commenced operations in July 2001
• Serves the North American market
• US-based customer support

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Agent Oriented SoftwarePty. Ltd., Australia

• Melbourne Product Centre
• JACK development team sited here, led by Paul
  Maisano
• Co-located with the University of Melbournes
  Intelligent Agent Laboratory
• Agent applications
• defense, telecommunications, wireless, web-based
  service delivery
• Supports Japanese market

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Agent Oriented SoftwarePty. Ltd., Australia

• Adelaide Applications Centre
• Co-located with the Australian Defence
  Departments Defence Science Technology
  Organisation (DSTO)
• Applications
• defense and manufacturing/logistics
• Documentation Training group, lead by Jacquie
  Jarvis

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An intelligent (BDI) agent
Human
Belief, Desire, Intentions Agent
Beliefs - database of perceived world knowledge
Beliefs - perceived understanding of the world
Goals or desires
Goals or desires
Execution Engine
Intentions - currently executing plans
Behaviours - pre-compiled plans
Accumulated experience and behaviours
Ref. Wooldridge Reasoning about Rational Agents
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How Intelligent Agentscan be Applied

• Intelligent Assistant
• helping humans in complex environments
• taking over mundane tasks
• decision support

• Human Surrogate
• performs rational reasoning
• works autonomously

• Linking managing systems
• handling distribution and peer to peer systems
• integrating legacy systems

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JACK Intelligent Agents?

• A product by Agent Oriented Software
• v 3.2 released recently
• third generation agent system
• JACK enables smart applications
• Entirely written in Java
• allows access to all Java features and add-ons
• Component-based approach
• provides core architecture and capability for
  developing running distributed software agents
• allows for plugins to base agent kernel, from
  BDI agents to teams of agents

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JACK Component Architecture
SimpleTeam Model
Application code
BDI agent Model
agent
capability
event
plan
database
view
Utility classes
JACK Kernel
Communication
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Entirely in Java gives advantages

• Portable
• capable of running on any system on which Java is
  available
• from laptops to high-end multi-CPU Enterprise
  servers (available on Psion PDA)
• Access to all Java capabilities, including
• platform independent GUIs
• third party libraries such as JDBC, Jini
• Facilities for communications
• other Java, C processes
• Integration with external packages using standard
  infrastructure, e.g., CORBA, RMI, HLA

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Multi-agency in JACK

• Distribution - JACK agents can be
• all concentrated in a single operating system
  process
• scattered over a multi-platform network
• any combination of the previous
• Communications
• built-in support for messaging (send, reply)
• light-weight and fast
• simple agent naming scheme
• sending and receiving Java objects
• decoupled from transport layer, with standard
  transport formats including XML, binary and ASCII
  encoding

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Summary of advanced agent features introduced

• Version 1
• Commercial agent platform integrated with an OO
  language
• Emphasis on sound software engineering and
  integration with conventional code
• Version 2
• Capabilities concept, encapsulation of
  behaviors
• Team-based programming (SimpleTeam)
• Version 3
• XML compatibility
• Inference rules
• Releases in 2002
• Analyst GUI environment
• Inspection tools GUIs for plan writing, debugging
  and monitoring
• simplify the design / code / test cycle
• make the tool more accessible to domain experts
• JACK Teams enhanced team-based programming

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Telecommunications Intelligent Assistant

• Capacity Integrator
• Telecommunications provisioning system
• Provisioning is the key to a telco
  providingservices to its customers
• By Open Telecommunications
• Takes a customer order
• Using the telcos database of elements and links
• Provisions the customers requested service
• Web-based
• Ultimately
• Customers will be able to provision services
  themselves
• Today, Open CI is installed at
• Telstra Optus, Australia
• Williams, USA

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(No Transcript)
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Schematic generated

• y

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Web-based tandem connection editor
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Agents in dynamic situations

• Robocup robot league 2001
• Complex task in an adversarial environment
• Real-time domain
• Interaction with robot controllers via wireless
  communications
• Challenging domain
• must handle unexpected opposition behaviour
• context-dependent tactics
• e.g., play aggressively when easily winning

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Holonic Manufacturing Systems (HMS)

• Holonics
• A Holon is the combination of a physical process
  and and an intelligent agent
• Holonic manufacturing systems are autonomous and
  co-operative
• Holons can be in teams
• A team of holons can be a group of machines,
  each with a role
• Orders are pro-active - Order Holons
• Negotiate with resources to make themselves
• Novel view, inverts conventional concept of a
  static order

• Institute of Manufacturing, Cambridge University
• assembly cell control using a JACK Team
  implementation
• combine holons with radio-based part
  identification - the future of manufacturing

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Teams in Flexible Manufacturing Robotics
Key
Mobile phone production team
Team
Role
Assemble test
Specification
Delivery
Collate dispatch
Line holon
Order
Lines 1, 2 3
Customers A, B C
Line 2
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The Future of Manufacturing

• Demonstrated in the Flash animation included
• run in Microsoft IE5 with Flash