Single Function Agents Research (SiFAs)

The concept of Single Function Agents (SiFAs) has been developed to investigate design problem-solving using multi-agent architectures. SiFas provide elementary functionality specific to design tasks. With this approach we intend to explore elementary patterns of interaction, communication and conflict resolution (especially trade-offs between goals). As the agents are small, and restricted to a limited number of types, we expect to be able reveal critical phenomena in multi-agent design problem-solving that may have been obscured in systems with larger agents.

Projects:

Several projects contribute to the efforts which currently target this area:

• Bertram Dunskus -- SiFAs and their Negotiation Behaviour in Expert Systems

• Phil Tomlinson -- Using Single Function Agents for Sailboat Design

• Ilan Berker -- Conflicts and Negotiations in SiFA Based Design Systems

• Patricia Currier -- Single Function Agent Knowledge Acquisition

• Mark Santesson -- Knowledge Acquisition for Single Function Agents

• Dan Grecu -- Learning in Multi-Agent Systems

Publications:

S.K.Victor & D.C.Brown (July 1994) Designing with Negotiation using Single Function Agents. Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Engineering IX. (Eds.) G.Rzevski, R.A.Adey, D.W.Russell, Proc. AIENG'94, 9th Int. AI in Engineering Conf., Pennsylvania, USA. Computational Mechanics Publications, pp. 173-179.

D.C.Brown, B.Dunskus & D.Grecu (August 1994) Using Single Function Agents to Investigate Negotiation. Preprints of the AAAI-94 Workshop on Models of Conflict Management in Cooperative Problem Solving, (Eds.) S. Lander & M. Klein. Selected for presentation.

D.C.Brown, B.Dunskus, D.L.Grecu & I.Berker (July 1995) SINE: Support For Single Function Agents. In: Applications of AI in Engineering, X, (eds) G.Rzevski, R.A. Adey & C. Tasso, Computational Mechanics Publications, pp. 525-532.

B.Dunskus, D.L.Grecu , D.C.Brown & I.Berker (Sept. 1995) Using Single Function Agents to Investigate Conflicts. AI EDAM: Artificial Intelligence in Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing, vol. 9, no. 4, Special Issue: Conflict Management in Design, (Ed.) I.Smith, Cambridge UP, pp. 299-312.

David C. Brown, ``Modeling Conflicts Between Agents in a Design Context'', ECAI'96 Workshop on Modeling Conflicts in AI, (ECAI96-conflicts.ps.Z).

I.Berker & D.C.Brown (March 1996) Conflicts and Negotiations in Single Function Agent Based Design Systems. Concurrent Engineering: Research and Applications, Journal, Special Issue on Multi-agent Systems in Concurrent Engineering, (Eds.) D. C. Brown, S. E. Lander & C. J. Petrie, Technomic Publishing Inc., Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 17-33.

D.C.Brown (1996) "Single Function Agents for Design". Knowledge Intensive CAD, Volume I, (Eds.) T. Tomiyama, M. Mantyla & S. Finger, Chapman & Hall (IFIP), pp. 15-20.

D.L.Grecu & D.C.Brown (June 1996) "Learning by Single Function Agents During Spring Design", Artificial Intelligence in Design '96, (Eds.) J. S. Gero & F. Sudweeks, Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 409-428.

<<< To Multi-Agent Systems Webliography
<<< To AI in Design Group