Breadcrumb Links:

Team Programming

Leader

Dr. Jacqueline Jarvis, School of Management and Information Systems

Members

  • Dr. Dennis Jarvis, School of Computing Sciences
  • Dr. Ralph Ronnquist, Intendico Pty. Ltd.
  • Prof. Lakhmi Jain, KES Centre, University of South Australia

Activities

Many complex systems can be viewed in terms of teams of agents (or holons) executing predefined plans in pursuit of system goals - manufacturing, defence and business are replete with examples. Our interests lie in the development of a software infrastructure (GORITE)  and design methodologies to support such a modelling paradigm, which we call team programming. These activities are both informed and validated through the deployment of team programming in real world applications. To date, application development has focused on the defence and manufacturing sectors; we are now exploring opportunites in the business and power distribution sectors.Consequently, our research activity is divided into two activities, framework development and framework application:

1. Frameworks

From an agent perspective, our interest is in the BDI model of agency, where agent behaviour is determined by a consideration of the agent's beliefs, desires and intentions. Since its conception in the mid 1980's, the BDI model has underpinned several commercially supported frameworks (PRS, dMARS and JACK) and these frameworks have been used to develop applications in areas as diverse as air traffic control, space shuttle diagnosis, UAV flight control, business process modelling and computer-based war games. The model continues to evolve; our experience gained in developing both commercial and research applications using existing frameworks has highlighted a number of limitations of the BDI model, namely its lack of support for team behaviour, task execution management and commitment strategies. This has led, in collaboration with Intendico Pty. Ltd., to the development of a framework known as GORITE.GORITE introduces the notion of team programming, where a system is viewed as a team of agents (or teams) that is pursuing particular goals. Both agent and team behaviour is explicitly represented in terms of goal decompositions; as in the BDI model, alternative decompositions are supported and selectable according to context. Note that while GORITE is a BDI framework, its team orientation, explicit goal representation and execution model clearly distinguishes it from traditional BDI frameworks.

2. Applications

Our research methodology is application driven:

    1. a framework is used to develop innovative and challenging BDI applications;
    2. limitations with the BDI model are identified; 
    3. extensions are proposed to the BDI model and implemented within the framework
    4. goto step 1

Both the manufacturing and defence sectors have proved to be rich sources of innovative and challenging applications, as evidenced by the publications cited below. We are now also exploring the business and power distribution sectors.

Selected Publications

    1. GORITE

Jarvis, J., Jarvis, D., Rönnquist, R. and Jain, L., (2008) Holonic Execution: A BDI Approach, Springer.

Jarvis, D., Jarvis, J., Rönnquist, R. (2008), "Team Programming with GORITE", International Journal of Intelligent Defence Support Systems. Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 75-89.

Rönnquist, R and Jarvis, D. (2008), "Interoperability with Goal-Oriented Teams", in Proceedings of the Agent-based Technologies and Applications for Enterprise Interoperability ATOP 2008 Workshop. Held at the 7th International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents & Multiagent Systems (AAMAS 2008) Estoril, Portugal, May 2008.

    2. Applications (Manufacturing)

Jarvis, J., Jarvis, D., Rönnquist, R. and Jain, L., (2008) Holonic Execution: A BDI Approach, Springer.

Jarvis, J., Jarvis, D., Rönnquist, R. and Jain, L. (2008), "A Flexible Plan Step Model for BDI Agents", Multiagent and Grid Systems, Vol. 4, No. 4, pp. 3519-370.

Jarvis, J., Rönnquist, R., McFarlane, D., Jain, L., (2006) "A Team-Based Approach to Robotic Assembly Cell Control", Journal of Network and Computer Applications, Vol. 29, pp. 160-176.


Fletcher, M., McFarlane, D., Thorne, A., Jarvis, D. and Lucas, A. (2004), "Evaluating a Holonic Packing Cell", Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 2744, pp. 246-257. Springer-Verlag.

Jarvis, D. and Jarvis, J. (2003), "Holonic Manufacturing and Diagnostics", in Deen, M. (Ed), Agent Based Manufacturing. Advances in the Holonic Approach. Springer.

Jarvis, J., Jarvis, D. and McFarlane, D. (2003), "Achieving Holonic Control - an Incremental Approach", Computers in Industry: Special Issue on Virtual Enterprise Management, Vol. 51, pp. 211-223.

Fletcher, M., McFarlane, D., Lucas, A., Brusey, J. and Jarvis, D. (2003), "The Cambridge Packing Cell - A Holonic Enterprise Demonstrator", Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 2691.

    3. Applications (Business)

Jarvis, D., Jarvis, J. and Rönnquist, R. (2008), "Using Agent Teams to Model Enterprise Behaviour", Multiagent and Grid Systems, Vol. 4, No. 4, pp. 351-358.

    4. Applications (Defence)

Jarvis, D., Jarvis, J., Rönnquist, R. and Fletcher, M. (2006), "Provision of Robust Behaviour in Teams of UAVs - a Conceptual Model", in Proceedings of the 1st SEAS DTC Technical Conference, Edinburgh.

Jarvis, D., Jarvis, J., Rönnquist, R. and Fletcher, M. (2006), "Towards a Reference Architecture for Agent-Based Power Management for Unmanned Vehicles", in Proceedings of the 1st SEAS DTC Technical Conference, Edinburgh.

Jarvis, D., Fletcher, M., Rönnquist, R., Howden, N. and Lucas, A. (2005), "Human Variability in Computer Generated Forces - Application of a Cognitive Architecture for Intelligent Agents", in Proceedings of SimTectT 2005, Sydney.

Jarvis, D., Jarvis, J., Rönnquist, R., Howden, N. and Newton-Thomas, J. (2004), "Smarter Virtual Soldiers for Training and Simulation", in Proceedings of Land Warfare Conference 2004, Melbourne.

Connell, R., Lui, F., Jarvis, D. and Watson, M. (2003) "The Mapping of Courses of Action Derived from Cognitive Work Analysis to Agent Behaviours", in Proceedings of Agents at Work: Deployed Applications of Autonomous Agents and Multi-agent Systems Workshop, Second International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multi Agent Systems, Melbourne.