First GSFC/JPL

Workshop on Radical Agent Concepts

26-28 September 2001

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Greenbelt, MD, USA

The first GSFC/JPL Workshop on Radical Agent Concepts (WRACD) will be held 26^th-28th September,  2001 at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA.

Aims and Scope

Over the past few years, agent-orientation has emerged as a powerful paradigm in computing (artificial intelligence, distributed systems, robotics, artificial life). Agent-orientation could be the foundation for the next generation of computing systems. New agent concepts and techniques could bring further developments to even farther this promising area of research. Such work is often strongly inspired by theoretical or empirical studies of human behavior, social intelligence, psychology, arts, biology, computer science and philosophy.

The workshop aims to bring together, in an inter-disciplinary event, original (out-of-the-box) thinkers, practitioners and academics with an interest in radical (innovative) concepts for agent-based systems. The workshop will provide a forum to present the latest research findings in any aspect of agent-orientation. The organizers welcome participation by those working in agent architectures, agent communities, agent communications, agent modeling, agent applications and other agent related areas. We are particularly seeking novel papers  [People working] on innovative ideas, pushing the envelope of current technology or or working on future concepts.  Contributions without a prototype or working system are welcomed and “out of the box” thinkers are encouraged to participate.encouraged to participate.

The workshop will be structured so as to allow the participants adequateplenty of time for discussion and interaction, to exchange ideas and reflect on the motivations, scientific grounds and practical consequences of the concepts presentedir efforts. Poster sessions will allow for additionalmore detailed and technical discussions.

Radical agent Ttopics of interest include, but are not limited to:

Social Aspects of Agents

·         Agent communications

·         Agent / human symbiosis

·         Ontology negotiation among heterogeneous agents

·         Agent control and coordination issues

·         Agent cooperation in distributed environments

·         Socially intelligent agents

Agent Architectures

·         Biological analogs for agent behaviors and architectures

·         Novel approaches to formal representation of agents

·         Evolutionary and self-organizing mechanisms

·         Mobility and adaptive behavior

Agent Communities

·         Agent communities and sub-community dynamics

·         Agent communities as knowledge communities

·         Novel approaches to formal representation of agent communities

Agent Intelligence

·         Agent self-modeling and self-awareness

·         Agent learning and adaptation

·         Multi-modal reasoning in intelligent agents

·         Emotionally intelligent agents

Any other innovative agent related topics not mentioned above.

·Novel agent architectures

·Agent communities and sub-community dynamics

·Agent communications (with other agents and humans)

·Agent/human symbiosis

·Agent self-modeling and self-awareness

·Biological analogs for agent behaviors and architectures

·Social aspects of agents

·Agent communities and knowledge communities

·Ontology negotiation among heterogeneous agents

·Organizational issues of agents

·Agent control and coordination issues

·Agent cooperation in distributed environments

·Agent learning and adaptation

·Multi-modal reasoning in intelligent agents

·Novel approaches to formal representation of agents and agent communities

·Socially intelligent agents, ability to connect to humans

·Evolutionary and self-organizing mechanisms

·Emotionally intelligent agents

·Mobility and adaptive behavior

·Other innovative agent related topics

Venue

The workshop will be held at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, located in Greenbelt, Maryland, USA.  The Center is situated just outside the Capital Beltway that surrounds Washington DC and is easily accessed from BWI (Baltimore-Washington International), Dulles International and Ronald Reagan National Airports.

Participation

To enable adequate discussion, attendance will be limited and will be by invitation only based on the submission of a short abstract or one-page statement of interests.  Non-US citizens are encouraged to participate, but clearance for admission to Goddard will need to be obtained in advance.   Student submissions are also encouraged.  The cost of the workshop will be approximately $200 dollars.There will be a cost to attend which will be finalized by the time of acceptance notification.  It is anticipated that attendance at the workshop will be free of charge, although dDelegates will be responsible for their own travel costs and accommodations (a corporate rate will be available at a nearby hotel).  A website for the workshop is under construction at http://aaaprod.gsfc.nasa.gov/wrac/home.cfm   Details relating to the workshop, including registration forms, will be available at that site.

The workshop will accommodate presentations concerning not only current work but also interests and experience related to the workshop theme.  Abstracts of current work and statements of interest and experience should be submitted, in PDF or RTF format, to wraacmail@kong.gsfc.nasa.govwracmail@pop500.gsfc.nasa.gov  by 30 April 2001.  Abstracts should be at most 24 pages in 12-point type.   People wishing to attend but do not wish to submit an abstract may submit a one page statement of interest and experience and will be asked to participate in a poster session.  Based on abstracts and statements of interest, some participants may also be asked to participate in panel discussions.  Invitations to participate in the workshop will be issued by 18 May 2001.  Proceedings of the workshop will be made available to attendees and areis anticipated to be published after the workshop.

Submissions must be accompanied by additional information for each person submitting an abstract attending or listed as author or co-author, as follows:

Name, postal address, affiliation, email address, phone (voice)

Country of citizenship

If not a US citizen, please indicate whether you have a Green Card.

If multiple authors, please indicate the primary author or point of contact.

Key Dates

Organizing Committee

Walt Truszkowski, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Sanda Mandutianu, Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Forest Fisher, Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Dan Clancy, NASA Ames Research Center

Susan Torney, NASA JSC

Christopher Rouff, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC)

Al Hawkins, a.i.AI sSolutions, Inc.

Don Ginn, a.i.AI sSolutions, Inc.

Henry Crawford, a.i.AI sSolutions, Inc.

Jay Karlin, Viable Systems, Inc.

Victoria Yoon, UMBC

Contacts

For more information send email to wracmail@pop500.kong.gsfc.nasa.gov.

Sponsors

NASA GSFC, JPL, NASA ARC,  NASA JSC SAIC, a.i.AI sSolutions, Inc., Viable Systems Inc., UMBC