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CODE 90545
ACADEMIC YEAR 2024/2025
CREDITS
SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINARY SECTOR INF/01
LANGUAGE English
TEACHING LOCATION
  • GENOVA
SEMESTER 1° Semester
TEACHING MATERIALS AULAWEB

OVERVIEW

Multiagent systems (MASs) have emerged as one of the most important areas of research and development in information technology and represent one of the most significant contributions of Distributed Artificial Intelligence. A MAS is composed of multiple interacting software components (agents) capable of cooperating to solve problems that are beyond the abilities of any individual member.

This course will introduce the students to the notion of an agent, and will lead them to understanding what an agent is, how they can be constructed, how agents can be made to cooperate effectively.

The adoption of symbolic languages ​​and approaches to model and implement agents will allow students to be exposed to the most significant characteristics of Symbolic Artificial Intelligence in a concrete and constructive way.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Getting acquainted with the concept of an agent and multiagent system, and learning how to design intelligent autonomous agents and how to deal with the main implementation issues.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the course, students will be able to:
-- understand the notion of an agent, how agents are distinct from other software paradigms (e.g., objects), and understand the characteristics of applications that lend themselves to an agent-oriented solution;
-- understand the key issues associated with constructing agents capable of intelligent autonomous action, and the main approaches taken to developing such agents;
-- understand the key issues and approaches to high-level communication in multiagent systems;
-- obtain a good command on programming languages for implementing cognitive agents, based on symbolic, declarative approaches (Prolog)
-- understand the main application areas of agent-based solutions.

Students interested in (and deemed suitable to, based on the outcomes on an initial quiz) attending the course in an innovative modality and in improving their soft skills, will also get the following transversal skills:
-- personal skills, basic level
-- social skills, basic level
-- creative design, advanced level

PREREQUISITES

The student should know the basics of First Order Logic and of Java programming

TEACHING METHODS

Frontal lessons (24 hours) and laboratories (8 hours).
One individual project on a topic must be developed at the end of the course.

For students involved in the innovative teaching activities, the following teaching modalities will be employed:
- world café
- creative individual project (the specification of the project is invented by students and is validated by teachers)

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Introduction to agents and MASs
-- What is an agent, what is a MAS
-- History of agents and MASs
-- Agent-oriented software engineering

Communication as action
-- Foundations of the speech acts theory
-- Issues in communication
            
Agent-oriented programming (AOP):
-- Logic programming as the foundation of cognitive agents programming             
-- Jason
            
Agent-based modeling and simulation
-- NetLogo

MAS infrastructures         
-- JADE, PADE, and similar infrastructures

Distributed AI: some among the following classical issues, also based on the students preferences
-- Uninformed search
-- Informed search
-- Planning
-- Games

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

The scientific papers at the state of the art, the slides and the further teaching material provided during the course are enough for following it.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

VIVIANA MASCARDI (President)

FILIPPO RICCA

ARNAUD HENRI PAUL SANGNIER (President Substitute)

LESSONS

LESSONS START

In agreement with the calendar approved by the Degree Program Board of Computer Science.

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The exam will consist in a quiz with closed questions, a written part (traditional open questions, exercises) plus an individual project (requiring about 1 man/week to be completed) whose outcomes must be presented in oral form. The written part can be accessed only if the quiz has been passed.

The teachers can complement the parts above with an oral exam.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The acquisition of the skills foreseen by this course are assessed via the quiz + written exam + the project which have been carefully designed to allow the teacher to verify whether a student is actually able to:
-- understand the notion of an agent, how agents are distinct from other software paradigms (e.g., objects), and understand the characteristics of applications that lend themselves to an agent-oriented solution (quiz and written part)
-- understand the key issues associated with constructing agents capable of intelligent autonomous action, and the main approaches taken to developing such agents (quiz, written part, individual project)
-- understand the key issues and approaches to high-level communication in multiagent systems (quiz and written part);
-- obtain a good command on programming languages for implementing cognitive agents, based on symbolic, declarative approaches (quiz, written part, individual project)
-- understand the main application areas of agent-based solutions (quiz, written part, individual project).

OpenBadge

 PRO3 - Soft skills - Creazione progettuale avanzato 1 - A
PRO3 - Soft skills - Creazione progettuale avanzato 1 - A
 PRO3 - Soft skills - Sociale base 1 - A
PRO3 - Soft skills - Sociale base 1 - A
 PRO3 - Soft skills - Personale base 1 - A
PRO3 - Soft skills - Personale base 1 - A