Undergraduate Course: Agent Based Systems (Level 9) (INFR09036)
Course Outline
| School | School of Informatics |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Available to all students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 9 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Credits | 10 |
| Home subject area | Informatics |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
http://www.inf.ed.ac.uk/teaching/courses/abs/ |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | Agent technology has emerged as a new area within Artificial Intelligence in the last two decades, exploring systems in which it is assumed that the computational components are autonomous, and interact with each other in a common environment. The aim of this course is to provide a comprehensive introduction to agents and multiagent systems. It covers a broad range of topics including agent architectures, agent interaction and communication, and game-theoretic methods and models of distributed rational decision making. It lays the foundations for advanced courses such as Multi-Agent Semantic Web Systems and Algorithmic Game Theory and its Applications. |
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
Students MUST have passed:
Informatics 2D - Reasoning and Agents (INFR08010)
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | Students MUST NOT also be taking
Agent Based Systems (Level 10) (INFR10049)
|
Other requirements | Successful completion of Year 2 of an Informatics Single or Combined Degree, or
equivalent by permission of the School. Students must also have a basic knowledge of probability theory and a good command of propositional and first-order logic. |
| Additional Costs | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus? | No |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
- Describe and discuss different architectures for intelligent agents and interaction mechanisms for cooperative and competitive settings.
- Use abstract formal models of agents and agent interactions to analyse the properties of concrete designs.
- Explain the algorithmic and theoretical foundations of agents and multiagent systems, with an emphasis on knowledge-based and game-theoretic techniques.
- Be able to model, analyse and critically evaluate distributed systems using agent-based abstractions and related concepts. |
Assessment Information
Written Examination: 100%
Assessed Assignments: 0%
Oral Presentations: 0%
Assessment:
A final written exam, no assessed assignments.
|
Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
1. Basics
- Definitions of agency
- Properties of agents
2. Agent architectures
- Deductive reasoning agents
- Practical reasoning
- Reactive and hybrid agents
3. Agent interaction
- Agent communication
- Game-theoretic models of interaction
4. Distributed rational decision making
- Social choice and voting
- Coalition formation
- Resource allocation
- Bargaining
- Argumentation
5. Logics for multiagent systems |
| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
- M. Wooldridge. An Introduction to MultiAgent Systems, 2nd edition, John Wiley & Sons, 2009
- Y. Shoham and K. Leyton-Brown. Multiagent Systems: Algorithmic, Game Theoretic and Logical Foundations, Cambridge University Press, 2009.
|
| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Lectures 20
Tutorials 8
Timetabled Laboratories 0
Non-timetabled Assessed Assignments 0
Private Study/Other 72
Total 100
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| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Mr Vijayanand Nagarajan
Tel: (0131 6)51 3440
Email: vijay.nagarajan@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Claire Edminson
Tel: (0131 6)51 7607
Email: C.Edminson@ed.ac.uk |
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