Initial software issues

Initially we envisage a 3-layer architecture in which the 'agent mind' is the top layer, the middle layer acts as an abstractor over the specific properties of the platform and the lowest layer is entirely platform specific.

The top layer will be present in skeleton ('empty') form on all platforms and migration will instantiate its components with specific data. An initial candidate for the top layer is the FAtiMA architecture developed at INESC-ID and used in the VICTEC and eCIRCUS projects.

The middle layer will contain YARP in the case of large robots, some elements of the View agent on the INESc-ID ION framework in the case of graphical agents, and will probably have to be written by us for mobiles.

The overall software framework may well use ION, but Agent Factory is also being examined.

Ruth Aylett Professor of Computer Science
Mathematics and Computer Science, Heriot-Watt University
Edinburgh EH14 4AS, UK Tel: 44-131-451-4189 Fax: 44-131-451-3327
http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/~ruth/