Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 6 of 6
Full-Text Articles in Computer Engineering
Cognitive Agents, Michael N. Huhns, Munindar P. Singh
Cognitive Agents, Michael N. Huhns, Munindar P. Singh
Faculty Publications
Several researchers have proposed using cognitive concepts as a semantic basis for agent communications (M.N. Huhns and M.P. Singh, 1997). One of the leading candidates for such a semantics is based on Arcol, the communication language used within Artimis. Interestingly, this application (not only of Arcol, but also in general) appears extremely misguided. The intentional concepts are well suited to designing agents, but are not suited to giving a basis to a public, standardizable view of communication. A challenge for using the cognitive concepts is that although they are natural in several respects and can guide implementations, full blown implementations …
Personal Assistants, Michael N. Huhns, Munindar P. Singh
Personal Assistants, Michael N. Huhns, Munindar P. Singh
Faculty Publications
Already there are simple personal agents to help with some of our shopping. There are agents to track stocks in our portfolios, advise us on how to use particular software products, and arrange meetings within corporate workgroups. However, none of these agents takes more than one aspect of our activities into account, nor do they adapt easily to our preferences. Personal assistants, on the other hand, are agents that can represent individuals on the Web. They help users in their day-to-day activities, especially those involving information retrieval, negotiation, or coordination. A personal assistant might schedule a meeting and then, based …
Workflow Agents, Michael N. Huhns, Munindar P. Singh
Workflow Agents, Michael N. Huhns, Munindar P. Singh
Faculty Publications
Software agents as user agents, resource agents, and brokers may be able to enhance usefulness of workflow applications. Workflow technology is important to network computing because workflows exist naturally wherever distributed resources are interrelated. The problem with current workflow technology is that it is often too rigid. The lack of freedom accorded to human participants causes workflow management systems to appear unfriendly. As a result, they are often ignored or circumvented. This rigidity also causes productivity losses by making it harder to accommodate the flexible, ad hoc reasoning of human intelligence. Another challenge is that system requirements are rarely static. …
All Agents Are Not Created Equal, Michael N. Huhns, Munindar P. Singh
All Agents Are Not Created Equal, Michael N. Huhns, Munindar P. Singh
Faculty Publications
As the technology advances, we can expect the development of specialized agents to be used as standardized building blocks for information systems. Two trends lend credence to such a prediction. First, software systems in general are being constructed with larger components, such as ActiveX and JavaBeans, which are becoming closer to being agents themselves. They have more functionality than simple objects, respond to events autonomously, and, most importantly, respond to system builders at development time, as well as to events at runtime. Moreover, there is a move toward more cooperative information systems, in which the architecture itself plays an important …
Agent Jurisprudence, Michael N. Huhns, Munindar P. Singh
Agent Jurisprudence, Michael N. Huhns, Munindar P. Singh
Faculty Publications
The agent metaphor comes packaged with a number of powerful abstractions. Some of these are psychological, such as beliefs, knowledge, and intentions-abstractions that were traditionally studied in AI. However, there are a number of other abstractions that the agent metaphor brings to the fore. Of these, one has been emphasizing the social abstractions. Close cousins of the social abstractions are the ethical and legal abstractions. These too are being recognized as increasingly important in developing agents that are not only sociable, but also well behaved.
Anthropoid Agents, Michael N. Huhns, Munindar P. Singh
Anthropoid Agents, Michael N. Huhns, Munindar P. Singh
Faculty Publications
In the study of agents on the Internet, we often ascribe to them human qualities, such as beliefs and intentions. These qualities are best understood as metaphors that give developers a way to talk about and design the capabilities and applications of agents. Despite all the progress in computing, users have been slow to accept the technology. They have often accepted what was thrown at them, but only under economic duress. Bringing the technology closer to their emotional needs might ease this resistance. So how can we put a human face on computing? Maybe by putting an animated face on …