Administration

1. •Resources (this page): Course Module Web Page
   

2. •Syllabus: COMP329
   

3. •Announcements: At lectures & on my teaching pages
   

4. •Assessment: 100% CA
   

5. •Lecture Times:
   

6. •Mon: 10.00 - 11.00 (GHOLT-H223)
   

7. •Tue: 09.00 - 10.00 (GHOLT-H223)
   

8. •Thur: 12.00 - 13.00 (GHOLT-H223)
   

9. •Practical Labs
   

10. •Tues: 14.00 - 16.00 (Lab 5 Holt-109)
    

11. •Wed: 09.00 - 11.00 (Lab 5 Holt-109)
    

12. •Wed: 11.00 - 13.00 (Lab 5 Holt-109)
    

13. •Thu: 09.00 - 11.00 (Lab 5 Holt-109)
    

14. •Thu: 13.00 - 15.00 (Lab 5 Holt-109)
    

15. •Assessment Weightings: 100% from 2 assignments

Module Description

Aims:

1. 1) To introduce the student to the concept of an autonomous agent;
   

2. 2)To introduce the key approaches developed for decision-making in autonomous systems;
   

3. 3)To introduce a contemporary platform for programming agents and multiagent systems;
   

4. 4)To introduce the key issues surrounding the development of autonomous robots;
   

5. 5)To introduce a contemporary platform for experimental robotics.
   

Learning Outcomes:

At the end of the module, the student will be able to demonstrate:

1. 1)explain the notion of an agent, how agents are distinct from other software paradigms (e.g., objects), and judge the characteristics of applications that lend themselves to an agent-oriented solution;
   

2. 2)identify the key issues associated with constructing agents capable of intelligent autonomous action;
   

3. 3)describe the main approaches taken to developing such agents;
   

4. 4)use a contemporary agent programming platform (e.g., AgentSpeak) for developing significant software or hardware-based agents;
   

5. 5)identify key issues involved in building agents that must sense and act within the physical world;
   

6. 6)program and deploy autonomous robots for specific tasks.
   

Approximate Syllabus:

1. •Strand 1: Strand one (2 hours lectures per week): Principles of Autonomous Agents.
   

2. •What is an agent
   

3. •Typical application areas for agent systems
   

4. •Abstract architectures for agents
   

5. •Tasks for agents; the design of intelligent agents - reasoning agents (e.g., Agent0), agents as reactive systems (e.g. subsumption architecture); hybrid agents (e.g., PRS); layered agents (e.g. Interrap)
   

6. •A contemporary programming language for autonomous robots (e.g., AgentSpeak).
   

7. •Strand 2: (1 hour lectures per week): Principles of Robotics.
   

8. •The sense -- decide -- act loop.
   

9. •Sensors: passive versus active sensors; light sensors; infra-red sensors; . . .
   

10. •Actuators: motors & servo motors; gearing; manipulators, . . .
    

11. •Movement: path planning; localisation;
    

12. •SLAM; . . .
    

13. •A contemporary experimental robotics platform (eg MINDSTORMS).
    

Recommended Texts

1. •An Introduction to MultiAgent Systems - Second Edition. Michael Wooldridge (Wiley, 2009)
   

2. •Introduction to Autonomous Mobile Robots - Second Edition. Roland Siegwart, Illah Reza Nourbakhsh and Davide Scaramuzza (MIT Press, 2011)
   

3. •Programming Multi-agent Systems in AgentSpeak Using Jason. Rafael H. Bordini, Jomi Fred Hubner and Michael Wooldridge (Wiley, 2007)
   

4. •Beginning Robotics Programming in Java with Lego Mindstorms, Wei Lu (APress / Springer 2016)
   

Lecture notes include material based on examples from all of the above texts.