An Introduction to MultiAgent Systems

The eagerly anticipated updated resource on one of the most important areas of research and development: multi-agent systems

Multi-agent systems allow many intelligent agents to interact with each other, and this field of study has advanced at a rapid pace since the publication of the first edition of this book, which was nearly a decade ago. With this exciting new edition, the coverage of multi-agents is completely updated to include several areas that have come to prominence in the last several years, including auctions, computational social choice, and markov decision processes. In turn, a variety of topics that were initially considered critical have dwindled in importance, so the coverage of that subject matter is decreased with this new edition. The result of this redefined balance of coverage is a timely and essential resource on a popular topic.

• Introduces you to the concept of agents and multi-agent systems and the main applications for which they are appropriate
• Discusses the main issues surrounding the design of intelligent agents and a multi-agent society
• Delves into a number of typical applications for agent technology
• Addresses deductive reasoning agents, practical reasoning agents, reactive and hybrid agents, and more
• Reviews multi-agent decision making, communication and cooperation, and intelligent autonomous agents

By the end of the book, you will have a firm grasp on how agents are distinct from other software paradigms and understand the characteristics of applications that lend themselves to agent-oriented software.

The study of multi-agent systems (MAS) focuses on systems in which many intelligent agents interact with each other.  These agents are considered to be autonomous entities such as software programs or robots.  Their interactions can either be cooperative (for example as in an ant colony) or selfish (as in a free market economy).  This book assumes only basic knowledge of algorithms and discrete maths, both of which are taught as standard in the first or second year of computer science degree programmes.  A basic knowledge of artificial intelligence would useful to help understand some of the issues, but is not essential.

The book’s main aims are:

• To introduce the student to the concept of agents and multi-agent systems, and the main applications for which they are appropriate
  
  
• To introduce the main issues surrounding the design of intelligent agents
  
  
• To introduce the main issues surrounding the design of a multi-agent society
  
  
• To introduce a number of typical applications for agent technology
  
  

Michael Wooldridge is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Liverpool, UK. He obtained his PhD in 1992 for work in the theory of multiagent systems and has, since then, been active in multiagent systems research.