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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2015/2016

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Informatics : Informatics

Undergraduate Course: Agent Based Systems (Level 10) (INFR10049)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Informatics CollegeCollege of Science and Engineering
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits10 ECTS Credits5
SummaryAgent 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.
Course description 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
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Students MUST have passed: Informatics 2D - Reasoning and Agents (INFR08010) OR Informatics Research Review (INFR11034)
Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements This course is open to all Informatics students including those on joint degrees. For external students where this course is not listed in your DPT, please seek special permission from the course organiser.

Informatics 2D - Reasoning and Agents or equivalent background for MSc Students. Logic Programming is strongly recommended.

Students must also have a basic knowledge of probability theory and a good command of propositional and first-order logic.
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesNone
High Demand Course? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2015/16, Available to all students (SV1) Quota:  None
Course Start Semester 2
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 100 ( Lecture Hours 20, Seminar/Tutorial Hours 8, Feedback/Feedforward Hours 1, Summative Assessment Hours 2, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 67 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 75 %, Coursework 25 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) Two programming exercises.

You should expect to spend approximately 25 hours on the coursework for this course.
Feedback Not entered
Exam Information
Exam Diet Paper Name Hours & Minutes
Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May)2:00
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.
- Design and implement agent-based systems using modern implementation platforms and agent programming languages.
- Design and conduct empirical experiments and evaluate the performance of implemented agent-based systems.
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.
Additional Information
Course URL http://course.inf.ed.ac.uk/abs
Graduate Attributes and Skills Not entered
KeywordsNot entered
Contacts
Course organiserDr Michael Rovatsos
Tel: (0131 6)51 3263
Email: mrovatso@inf.ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMiss Beth Muir
Tel: (0131 6)51 7607
Email: beth.muir@ed.ac.uk
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