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A multi-agent system (MAS or "self-organized system") is a computerized system composed of multiple interacting
intelligent agent In artificial intelligence, an intelligent agent (IA) is anything which perceives its environment, takes actions autonomously in order to achieve goals, and may improve its performance with learning or may use knowledge. They may be simple or ...
s.Hu, J.; Bhowmick, P.; Jang, I.; Arvin, F.; Lanzon, A.,
A Decentralized Cluster Formation Containment Framework for Multirobot Systems
IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 2021.
Multi-agent systems can solve problems that are difficult or impossible for an individual agent or a monolithic system to solve.Hu, J.; Turgut, A.; Lennox, B.; Arvin, F.,
Robust Formation Coordination of Robot Swarms with Nonlinear Dynamics and Unknown Disturbances: Design and Experiments
IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II: Express Briefs, 2021.
Intelligence may include
method Method ( grc, μέθοδος, methodos) literally means a pursuit of knowledge, investigation, mode of prosecuting such inquiry, or system. In recent centuries it more often means a prescribed process for completing a task. It may refer to: *Scien ...
ic,
functional Functional may refer to: * Movements in architecture: ** Functionalism (architecture) ** Form follows function * Functional group, combination of atoms within molecules * Medical conditions without currently visible organic basis: ** Functional sy ...
, procedural approaches,
algorithm In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific problems or to perform a computation. Algorithms are used as specifications for performing ...
ic
search Searching or search may refer to: Computing technology * Search algorithm, including keyword search ** :Search algorithms * Search and optimization for problem solving in artificial intelligence * Search engine technology, software for findi ...
or reinforcement learning.Hu, J.; Bhowmick, P.; Lanzon, A.,
Group Coordinated Control of Networked Mobile Robots with Applications to Object Transportation
IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, 2021.
Despite considerable overlap, a multi-agent system is not always the same as an
agent-based model An agent-based model (ABM) is a computational model for simulating the actions and interactions of autonomous agents (both individual or collective entities such as organizations or groups) in order to understand the behavior of a system and wha ...
(ABM). The goal of an ABM is to search for explanatory insight into the collective behavior of agents (which don't necessarily need to be "intelligent") obeying simple rules, typically in natural systems, rather than in solving specific practical or engineering problems. The terminology of ABM tends to be used more often in the science, and MAS in engineering and technology. Applications where multi-agent systems research may deliver an appropriate approach include online trading, disaster response, target surveillance and social structure modelling.


Concept

Multi-agent systems consist of agents and their
environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...
. Typically multi-agent systems research refers to
software agent In computer science, a software agent or software AI is a computer program that acts for a user or other program in a relationship of agency, which derives from the Latin ''agere'' (to do): an agreement to act on one's behalf. Such "action on behal ...
s. However, the agents in a multi-agent system could equally well be robots, humans or human teams. A multi-agent system may contain combined human-agent teams. Agents can be divided into types spanning simple to complex. Categories include: * Passive agents or "agent without goals" (such as obstacle, apple or key in any simple simulation) * Active agents with simple goals (like birds in flocking, or wolf–sheep in prey-predator model) * Cognitive agents (complex calculations) Agent environments can be divided into: * Virtual * Discrete * Continuous Agent environments can also be organized according to properties such as accessibility (whether it is possible to gather complete information about the environment), determinism (whether an action causes a definite effect), dynamics (how many entities influence the environment in the moment), discreteness (whether the number of possible actions in the environment is finite), episodicity (whether agent actions in certain time periods influence other periods), and dimensionality (whether spatial characteristics are important factors of the environment and the agent considers space in its decision making). Agent actions are typically mediated via an appropriate middleware. This middleware offers a first-class design abstraction for multi-agent systems, providing means to govern resource access and agent coordination.


Characteristics

The agents in a multi-agent system have several important characteristics: * Autonomy: agents at least partially independent, self-aware,
autonomous In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy, from , ''autonomos'', from αὐτο- ''auto-'' "self" and νόμος ''nomos'', "law", hence when combined understood to mean "one who gives oneself one's ow ...
* Local views: no agent has a full global view, or the system is too complex for an agent to exploit such knowledge * Decentralization: no agent is designated as controlling (or the system is effectively reduced to a monolithic system)


Self-organisation and self-direction

Multi-agent systems can manifest
self-organisation Self-organization, also called spontaneous order in the social sciences, is a process where some form of overall order arises from local interactions between parts of an initially disordered system. The process can be spontaneous when suffic ...
as well as self-direction and other control paradigms and related complex behaviors even when the individual strategies of all their agents are simple. When agents can share knowledge using any agreed language, within the constraints of the system's communication protocol, the approach may lead to a common improvement. Example languages are Knowledge Query Manipulation Language (KQML) or Agent Communication Language (ACL).


System paradigms

Many MAS are implemented in computer simulations, stepping the system through discrete "time steps". The MAS components communicate typically using a weighted request matrix, e.g. Speed-VERY_IMPORTANT: min=45 mph, Path length-MEDIUM_IMPORTANCE: max=60 expectedMax=40, Max-Weight-UNIMPORTANT Contract Priority-REGULAR and a weighted response matrix, e.g. Speed-min:50 but only if weather sunny, Path length:25 for sunny / 46 for rainy Contract Priority-REGULAR note – ambulance will override this priority and you'll have to wait A challenge-response-contract scheme is common in MAS systems, where * First a "Who can?" question is distributed. * Only the relevant components respond: "I can, at this price". * Finally, a contract is set up, usually in several short communication steps between sides, also considering other components, evolving "contracts" and the restriction sets of the component algorithms. Another paradigm commonly used with MAS is the " pheromone", where components leave information for other nearby components. These pheromones may evaporate/concentrate with time, that is their values may decrease (or increase).


Properties

MAS tend to find the best solution for their problems without intervention. There is high similarity here to physical phenomena, such as energy minimizing, where physical objects tend to reach the lowest energy possible within the physically constrained world. For example: many of the cars entering a metropolis in the morning will be available for leaving that same metropolis in the evening. The systems also tend to prevent propagation of faults, self-recover and be fault tolerant, mainly due to the redundancy of components.


Research

The study of multi-agent systems is "concerned with the development and analysis of sophisticated AI problem-solving and control architectures for both single-agent and multiple-agent systems." Research topics include: * agent-oriented software engineering * beliefs, desires, and intentions ( BDI) * cooperation and coordination *
distributed constraint optimization Distributed constraint optimization (DCOP or DisCOP) is the distributed analogue to constraint optimization. A DCOP is a problem in which a group of agents must distributedly choose values for a set of variables such that the cost of a set of con ...
(DCOPs) * organization * communication * negotiation * distributed problem solving *
multi-agent learning ] Multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) is a sub-field of reinforcement learning. It focuses on studying the behavior of multiple learning agents that coexist in a shared environment. Each agent is motivated by its own rewards, and does acti ...
*
agent mining Agent mining is an interdisciplinary area that synergizes multiagent systems with data mining and machine learning. The interaction and integration between multiagent systems and data mining have a long history. The very early work on agent min ...
* scientific communities (e.g., on biological flocking, language evolution, and economics) * dependability and fault-tolerance * robotics, multi-robot systems (MRS), robotic clusters


Frameworks

Frameworks have emerged that implement common standards (such as the FIPA and OMG MASIF standards). These frameworks e.g. JADE, save time and aid in the standardization of MAS development. Currently though, no standard is actively maintained from FIPA or OMG. Efforts for further development of software agents in industrial context are carried out in IEEE IES technical committee on Industrial Agents.


Applications

MAS have not only been applied in academic research, but also in industry. MAS are applied in the real world to graphical applications such as computer games. Agent systems have been used in films. It is widely advocated for use in networking and mobile technologies, to achieve automatic and dynamic load balancing, high scalability and self-healing networks. They are being used for coordinated defence systems. Other applications include transportation,Xiao-Feng Xie, S. Smith, G. Barlow
Schedule-driven coordination for real-time traffic network control
International Conference on Automated Planning and Scheduling (ICAPS), São Paulo, Brazil, 2012: 323–331.
logistics, graphics, manufacturing,
power system An electric power system is a network of electrical components deployed to supply, transfer, and use electric power. An example of a power system is the electrical grid that provides power to homes and industries within an extended area. The e ...
, smartgrids and GIS. Also, Multi-agent Systems Artificial Intelligence (MAAI) are used for simulating societies, the purpose thereof being helpful in the fields of climate, energy, epidemiology, conflict management, child abuse, ....AI can predict your future behaviour with powerful new simulations
/ref> Some organisations working on using multi-agent system models include Center for Modelling Social Systems, Centre for Research in Social Simulation, Centre for Policy Modelling, Society for Modelling and Simulation International. Hallerbach et al. discussed the application of agent-based approaches for the development and validation of automated driving systems via a digital twin of the vehicle-under-test and microscopic traffic simulation based on independent agents. Waymo has created a multi-agent simulation environment Carcraft to test algorithms for self-driving cars. It simulates traffic interactions between human drivers, pedestrians and automated vehicles. People's behavior is imitated by artificial agents based on data of real human behavior.


See also

*
Comparison of agent-based modeling software Comparison or comparing is the act of evaluating two or more things by determining the relevant, comparable characteristics of each thing, and then determining which characteristics of each are similar to the other, which are different, and t ...
* Agent-based computational economics (ACE) *
Artificial brain An artificial brain (or artificial mind) is software and hardware with cognitive abilities similar to those of the animal or human brain. Research investigating "artificial brains" and brain emulation plays three important roles in science: #An o ...
*
Artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...
*
Artificial life Artificial life (often abbreviated ALife or A-Life) is a field of study wherein researchers examine systems related to natural life, its processes, and its evolution, through the use of simulations with computer models, robotics, and biochemistry ...
*
Artificial life framework Artificial Life is a free and open sourced Java framework created to simulate Life. It is a multi-agents framework where each agent runs its own Thread. The agents are split into two different categories: the services and the processes. The servi ...
* Artificial philosophy *
AI mayor Government by algorithm (also known as algorithmic regulation, regulation by algorithms, algorithmic governance, algocratic governance, algorithmic legal order or algocracy) is an alternative form of government or social ordering, where the usa ...
*
Black box In science, computing, and engineering, a black box is a system which can be viewed in terms of its inputs and outputs (or transfer characteristics), without any knowledge of its internal workings. Its implementation is "opaque" (black). The te ...
*
Blackboard system A blackboard system is an artificial intelligence approach based on the blackboard architectural model, where a common knowledge base, the "blackboard", is iteratively updated by a diverse group of specialist knowledge sources, starting with a pro ...
*
Complex systems A complex system is a system composed of many components which may interact with each other. Examples of complex systems are Earth's global climate, organisms, the human brain, infrastructure such as power grid, transportation or communication sy ...
* Discrete event simulation *
Distributed artificial intelligence Distributed Artificial Intelligence (DAI) also called Decentralized Artificial Intelligence is a subfield of artificial intelligence research dedicated to the development of distributed solutions for problems. DAI is closely related to and a pred ...
* Emergence *
Evolutionary computation In computer science, evolutionary computation is a family of algorithms for global optimization inspired by biological evolution, and the subfield of artificial intelligence and soft computing studying these algorithms. In technical terms, they ...
*
Friendly artificial intelligence Friendly artificial intelligence (also friendly AI or FAI) refers to hypothetical artificial general intelligence (AGI) that would have a positive (benign) effect on humanity or at least align with human interests or contribute to foster the impro ...
*
Game theory Game theory is the study of mathematical models of strategic interactions among rational agents. Myerson, Roger B. (1991). ''Game Theory: Analysis of Conflict,'' Harvard University Press, p.&nbs1 Chapter-preview links, ppvii–xi It has applic ...
*
Human-based genetic algorithm In evolutionary computation, a human-based genetic algorithm (HBGA) is a genetic algorithm that allows humans to contribute solution suggestions to the evolutionary process. For this purpose, a HBGA has human interfaces for initialization, mutation, ...
*
Hybrid intelligent system Hybrid intelligent system denotes a software system which employs, in parallel, a combination of methods and techniques from artificial intelligence subfields, such as: * Neuro-symbolic systems * Neuro-fuzzy systems * Hybrid connectionist-symbolic ...
* Knowledge Query and Manipulation Language (KQML) *
Microbial intelligence Microbial intelligence (known as bacterial intelligence) is the intelligence shown by microorganisms. The concept encompasses complex adaptive behavior shown by single cells, and altruistic or cooperative behavior in populations of like or unlike ...
*
Multi-agent planning In computer science multi-agent planning involves coordinating the resources and activities of multiple '' agents''. NASA says, "multiagent planning is concerned with planning by (and for) multiple agents. It can involve agents planning for a com ...
*
Multi-agent reinforcement learning ] Multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) is a sub-field of reinforcement learning. It focuses on studying the behavior of multiple learning agents that coexist in a shared environment. Each agent is motivated by its own rewards, and does acti ...
* Pattern-oriented modeling *
PlatBox Project PlatBox Project, formally known as Boxed Economy Project, is a multi-agent based computer simulation software development project founded by Iba Laboratory at Keio University, Japan. The main work of PlatBox Project is to develop PlatBox Simulator ...
* Reinforcement learning *
Scientific community metaphor In computer science, the scientific community metaphor is a metaphor used to aid understanding scientific communities. The first publications on the scientific community metaphor in 1981 and 1982 involved the development of a programming langu ...
*
Self-reconfiguring modular robot Modular self-reconfiguring robotic systems or self-reconfigurable modular robots are autonomous kinematic machines with variable morphology. Beyond conventional actuation, sensing and control typically found in fixed-morphology robots, self-reconf ...
*
Simulated reality The simulation theory is the hypothesis that reality could be simulated—for example by quantum computer simulation—to a degree indistinguishable from "true" reality. It could contain conscious minds that may or may not know that they live i ...
* Social simulation *
Software agent In computer science, a software agent or software AI is a computer program that acts for a user or other program in a relationship of agency, which derives from the Latin ''agere'' (to do): an agreement to act on one's behalf. Such "action on behal ...
*
Software bot A software bot is a type of software agent in the service of software project management and software engineering. A software bot has an identity and potentially personified aspects in order to serve their stakeholders. Software bots often compose ...
* Swarm intelligence * Swarm robotics


References


Further reading

* * * * * '' The Journal of Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems (JAAMAS)'' * * * * * *
Whitestein Series in Software Agent Technologies and Autonomic Computing
', published by Springer Science+Business Media Group * * * * Cao, Longbing, Gorodetsky, Vladimir, Mitkas, Pericles A. (2009)
Agent Mining: The Synergy of Agents and Data Mining
IEEE Intelligent Systems, vol. 24, no. 3, 64-72. {{DEFAULTSORT:Multi-Agent System Multi-robot systems