Key to reinforcement learning in multi-agent systems is the ability to exploit the fact that agents only directly influence only a small subset of the other agents. Such loose couplings are often modelled using a graphical model: a coordination graph. Finding an (approximately) optimal joint action for …

Autonomously exploring and mapping is one of the open challenges of robotics and artificial intelligence. Especially when the environments are unknown, choosing the optimal navigation directive is not straightforward. In this paper, we propose a reinforcement learning framework for navigating, exploring, …

Ethics by Design concerns the methods, algorithms and tools needed to endow autonomous agents with the capability to reason about the ethical aspects of their decisions, and the methods, tools and formalisms to guarantee that an agent’s behavior remains within given moral bounds. In this context some …

From the article: "To extend the lifetime of products, an agent is connected to the product. This agent has several roles. It depends on the phase of the lifecycle what these roles will be. One of the roles in the usage or recycling phase is to negotiate for buying spare parts in case a part of the product …

In social settings, people often need to reason about unobservable mental content of other people, such as their beliefs, goals, or intentions. This ability helps them to understand, to predict, and even to influence the behavior of others. People can take this ability further by applying it recursively. …

The Hogeschool Utrecht Centre of Technology and Innovation is currently researching various applications of multi-agent technology (MAS). This research considers the posibilities of developing an agent-based system capable of monitoring vital functions and making predictions on a patient’s health to …

From the article: Using Roger Crisp’s arguments for well-being as the ultimate source of moral reasoning, this paper argues that there are no ultimate, non-derivative reasons to program robots with moral concepts such as moral obligation, morally wrong or morally right. Although these moral concepts …

Author provided: Monitoring of computernetworks, complex technical systems like aeroplanes is common practice. In this article the use of a monitoring agent in an arbitrary product is discussed. The product itself could be any product with sucient hardware capabilities. The focus is on the product enhancement …

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014. Creating agents that are capable of emulating similar socio-cultural dynamics to those found in human interaction remains as one of the hardest challenges of artificial intelligence. This problem becomes particularly important when considering embodied …