Article

Universality in Multi-Agent Systems

Authors:

H. Van Dyke Parunak,

Sven Brueckner,

Robert SavitAuthors Info & Claims

AAMAS '04: Proceedings of the Third International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems - Volume 2

Pages 930 - 937

Published: 19 July 2004 Publication History

Abstract

Much research in MAS explores how refinements to one agentýs reasoning can improve system performance. Sometimes, aspects of a systemýs behavior are independent of individual agentsý algorithms. Inspired by statistical physics, we term this phenomenon "universality": systems whose elements differ widely may have common emergent features. We develop a notion of universality in MAS based on the conceptýs use in its original (physics) setting. We give examples of the phenomenon, and discuss its implications for the theory and practice of MAS. We speculate that there exists a hierarchy of types of universality. The statistical mechanics sense refers to the most refined, simplest, and quantitative, while commonalities among MAS systems are associated with somewhat more general and qualitative levels of universality. Such a hierarchy would be an important integrating principle across systems of interacting components, including human societies, animal ecologies, multi-agent systems, and atoms and molecules.

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Cited By

Sudeikat JRenz W(2009)Qualitative modeling of MAS dynamicsProceedings of the 10th international conference on Agent-oriented software engineering10.5555/1965954.1965962(80-93)Online publication date: 11-May-2009
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/1965954.1965962
Van Dyke Parunak HBrueckner S(2006)Concurrent modeling of alternative worlds with polyagentsProceedings of the 2006 international conference on Multi-agent-based simulation VII10.5555/1782774.1782789(128-141)Online publication date: 8-May-2006
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/1782774.1782789
Van Dyke Parunak HNielsen PBrueckner SAlonso R(2006)Hybrid multi-agent systemsProceedings of the 4th international conference on Engineering self-organising systems10.5555/1763581.1763583(1-14)Online publication date: 9-May-2006
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/1763581.1763583
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Universality in Multi-Agent Systems
1. Applied computing
  1. Physical sciences and engineering
    1. Physics
2. Computing methodologies
  1. Artificial intelligence
    1. Distributed artificial intelligence
      1. Cooperation and coordination
      2. Multi-agent systems

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cover image ACM Conferences

AAMAS '04: Proceedings of the Third International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems - Volume 2

July 2004

464 pages

ISBN:1581138644

Sponsors

SIGAI: ACM Special Interest Group on Artificial Intelligence

Publisher

IEEE Computer Society

United States

Publication History

Published: 19 July 2004

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Conference

AAMAS04

Sponsor:

SIGAI

AAMAS04: The Third International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems 2004

July 19 - 23, 2004

New York, New York

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Overall Acceptance Rate 1,155 of 5,036 submissions, 23%

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Cited By

Sudeikat JRenz W(2009)Qualitative modeling of MAS dynamicsProceedings of the 10th international conference on Agent-oriented software engineering10.5555/1965954.1965962(80-93)Online publication date: 11-May-2009
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/1965954.1965962
Van Dyke Parunak HBrueckner S(2006)Concurrent modeling of alternative worlds with polyagentsProceedings of the 2006 international conference on Multi-agent-based simulation VII10.5555/1782774.1782789(128-141)Online publication date: 8-May-2006
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/1782774.1782789
Van Dyke Parunak HNielsen PBrueckner SAlonso R(2006)Hybrid multi-agent systemsProceedings of the 4th international conference on Engineering self-organising systems10.5555/1763581.1763583(1-14)Online publication date: 9-May-2006
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/1763581.1763583
Van Dyke Parunak HBisson RBrueckner SMatthews RSauter JNakashima HWellman MWeiss GStone P(2006)A model of emotions for situated agentsProceedings of the fifth international joint conference on Autonomous agents and multiagent systems10.1145/1160633.1160810(993-995)Online publication date: 8-May-2006
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1160633.1160810
Mamei MMenezes RTolksdorf RZambonelli F(2006)Case studies for self-organization in computer scienceJournal of Systems Architecture: the EUROMICRO Journal10.1016/j.sysarc.2006.02.00252:8(443-460)Online publication date: 1-Aug-2006
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.sysarc.2006.02.002
Renz WSudeikat J(2005)Mesoscopic modeling of emergent behavior – a self-organizing deliberative minority gameProceedings of the Third international conference on Engineering Self-Organising Systems10.1007/11734697_13(167-181)Online publication date: 25-Jul-2005
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/11734697_13
Van Dyke Parunak HBisson RBrueckner SMatthews RSauter J(2005)Representing dispositions and emotions in simulated combatProceedings of the 2005 international conference on Defence Applications of Multi-Agent Systems10.1007/11683704_5(51-65)Online publication date: 25-Jul-2005
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/11683704_5
Van Dyke Parunak H(2005)A survey of environments and mechanisms for human-human stigmergyProceedings of the 2nd international conference on Environments for Multi-Agent Systems10.1007/11678809_10(163-186)Online publication date: 25-Jul-2005
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/11678809_10
Renz WSudeikat J(2005)Modeling minority games with BDI agents – a case studyProceedings of the Third German conference on Multiagent System Technologies10.1007/11550648_7(71-81)Online publication date: 11-Sep-2005
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/11550648_7

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