This assessment covers the development in Jason of a multi-agent system for a “search & rescue” mission. This assignment counts for 50% of the final grade for the module.

This is the detailed specification of the assignment:

1. •The multi-agent system consists of two Jason agents: a scout and a doctor.
   

2. •The scout agent communicates (via BlueTooth) with an NXT robot placed in an arena. The doctor will request the scout to start the search for victims.
   

3. •The scout agent controls a robot within the RoboSym simulated arena.. The doctor will request the scout to start the search for victims.
   

4. •The robot will start from a known location within the simulator either position based e.g. an (x, y) coordinate of (20cm, 20cm) or occupancy grid based e.g. the robot starts at the grid coordinate (x, y) of (1,1). The arena will have a small number of obstacles (between 2 and 4) and of victims (between 2 and 4), which will be placed at random locations. Victims will be designated through colored A4 papers placed on the floor of the arena.
   

5. •Different colors indicate different levels of danger victims are subjected to: red = very urgent, blue = urgent, green = not urgent.
   

6. •The aim of the scout agent is to locate the victims and communicate their positions to the doctor agent.
   

7. •The aim of the doctor is to decide which victim has priority in a rescue action. It displays in real time on
   screen a priority ranking of the different victims found by the scout.
   

The above is the basic assignment. Full marks can be obtained by a good solution to the above problem.

For additional credit you can, optionally, provide a solution to the following extension of the assignment: 

1. •Once the scout agent believes that it has completely searched the arena, it passes this information to the doctor.
   

2. •The doctor then passes the scout the coordinates of the most urgent victim. If two or more victims are jointly the most urgent, the doctor passes the scout the coordinates of one of them.
   

3. •The scout then moves to the location of this most urgent victim.
   
   

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

You should work with your assigned groups.  Your solution should be submitted ELECTRONICALLY as follows:

1. •Each member of the group is responsible for submitting a zip file containing:
   

1. 1.A log of their activity as a pdf file; and
   

2. 2.A filled in peer-evaluation form.
   

3. •Furthermore, each group should nominate a single member of the group who will be responsible for submitting the source code for their solution.
   

4. •Groups may optionally, in addition, submit a link to a video showing a working solution. This video must be unedited and no more than 5 minutes long (i.e. the video has to be one continuous shot from the same camera — zooming is ok, but cutting between shots is not ok). The video must be uploaded to the University Streaming Service and the URL included in a comment in the log of their activity.
   

5. •Your code must be submitted to the departmental electronic submission system, and select ‘Assignment 2’ from the drop-down menu.  You then locate the zip file containing your submission, check the box stating that you have read and understood the university’s policy on plagiarism and collusion, then click the ‘Upload File’ button.
   

Each group will be scheduled a time to demonstrate their solution. Partial marks will be awarded for partial solutions. As an insurance, groups should consider submitting a video in case there are problems with the demonstration.

MARKING SCHEME

The marks allocated for Assignment 1 are allocated as follows:

1. •50% of the final mark will be based on the demonstration of the solution for this assignment. This mark will be based on the results of the demonstration and the video (if one is submitted).
   

2. •30% of the final mark will be based on the code; in terms of elegance of solution and correctness.
   

3. •20% of the final mark will be based on the log that you have kept to illustrate the development of your solution for the all duration of the assignment.
   

Details of the assessment forms for the code and the demo are given opposite.

You can either choose to keep this as a written log, or as one or more video logs.  If a video log is submitted, it should be no more than 20 minutes in duration; either as a single edited video, or a set of videos.  The video logs should be uploaded to the University Streaming Service and a should pdf should be provided including the URLs of the videos.

If the log is written, then it should detail your specific contributions and activities in reaching the solution.  If a video log is submitted, then this can optionally include videos of the robot during the different phases of development (although this is not necessary).

Note that any device can be used to produce the video log; however, if you don’t have your own device for recording video, then the iMacs in the Mac lab have the ability to record video using the built in camera - please contact me for help if necessary.

If you submit the video via the University Streaming Service, you should ensure that the following metadata is checked:

1. •Privacy: University only
   

2. •Access Level: Computer Science (D)
   

3. •Video Embedding: No
   

4. •View Offline: No
   

5. •Searching: No
   

6. •Comments: No
   

7. •Ratings: No
   

8. •Related: No
   

9. •Creative Commons: No
   

Individual marks will be based on the team mark adjusted according to the peer-evaluation form.

The standard penalty for late submission will be applied. The second assignment for this module will provide an extra credit portion that allows students to partially compensate for failure of the first assignment. However, the maximum extra credit available will be an additional 10% for the second assignment (an extra 4.5% of the total grade for the module), so the ability to compensate for any failure of this assignment is limited.

Purpose of Assessment & Learning Outcomes

The purpose of the assessment is to provide the student with experience programming a multiagent system in which agents communicate with each other and with an autonomous robot, and to assess the learning 2, 3, 5, and 6 (in bold/italic) from the following stated outcomes for the module:

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.