Managing Semantic Compensation in a Multi-Agent System


Amy Unruh

Computer Science & Software Engineering

University of Melbourne

Friday, 25th June 2004
9-30am - 11am

RMIT University Function Room (near Kaleide Theatre)
Building 8, level 2, RMIT,
Swanston Street, Melbourne.

Abstract:

This talk will describe an approach to improving the robustness of an agent system by augmenting its failure-handling capabilities.  The approach is based on the concept of "semantic compensation": undoing or "cleaning up" failed or cancelled tasks can help agents behave more robustly and predictably at both an individual and system level. However, in complex and dynamic domains it is difficult to define useful specific compensations ahead of time.  This talk will present an approach to defining semantic compensations abstractly, then implementing them in a situation-specific manner at time of failure. The talk will then describe a methodology for decoupling failure-handling from "normative" agent logic so that the semantic compensation knowledge can be applied in a predictable and consistent way -- both with respect to individual agent reaction to failure, and with respect to failure-related interactions between agents -- without requiring the agent application designer to implement the details of the failure-handling model.

Biosketch:

Amy Unruh is an ARC Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering.  Recently, she has been an adjunct faculty member at the University of Texas, has worked for various startups, and was a member of the InfoSleuth Distributed Agents Program at MCC in Austin.  She received her Ph.D. in CS/AI from Stanford University.

Papers:

A. Unruh., J. Bailey, and K. Ramamohanarao. "A Framework for Goal-Based Semantic Compensation in Agent Systems." To appear in 1st International Workshop on Safety and Security in Multi-Agent Systems, AAMAS '04, 2004 (local pdf).

A. Unruh., J. Bailey, and K. Ramamohanarao. Managing Semantic Compensation in a Multi-Agent System (pdf, submitted for publication).