From: The Intelligent Software Agents/RETSINA Group, The Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University

Contact: Lori Price, Writer/Editor: nospam-lrprice at cs dot cmu dot edu

Written by: Michael D. Rectenwald, December 6, 2000

Intelligent software agents will populate the world wide web

Pittsburgh:

Software developers at Carnegie Mellon University’s Intelligent Software Agents/RETSINA Group in The Robotics Institute are creating software that is changing the way people will use the World Wide Web. Software programs that function autonomously, known in the software industry as intelligent software “agents,” now perform many of the tasks performed by human users of the web, as well as other tasks that humans cannot or would not want to perform. Employing software agents, the web promises to be a web of services carried out by agents, rather than merely a web of information perused by search engines and humans.

The goal of the Intelligent Software Agents Group has been in part to create autonomous software agents functioning robustly in distributed environments, agents that are reusable in different application contexts, and that respond intelligently to changes in their environments. The Intelligent Software Agents Group has developed the RETSINA multi-agent system (MAS) and applied its agent technology to many domains, ranging from financial portfolio management, to logistics planning in military applications. The software agent research community generally recognizes the RETSINA Group’s multi-agent system as the most mature and comprehensive MAS architecture in existence today.

Watch RETSINA agents aid in real time stock portfolio management, analyzing data and updating stockholders with Beta ratings or other designated criteria. Watch as multiple agents -- including a Route Planning Agent, a Flight Agent, an Air Force Airlift Scheduler, a Weather Agent, and others -- cooperatively plan and execute a hypothetical evacuation of American civilians from a Middle Eastern city in an escalating crisis situation.

Carnegie Mellon’s Intelligent Software Agents/RETSINA Group leads the world in agent technology, solving problems that others are only beginning to take note of, and applying that technology to multiple domains. We welcome you and/or members of your writing staff to come and experience demonstrations of our software agent technology and several of its applications.

The Intelligent Software Agents/RETSINA Group, The Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University

Pittsburgh, PA 15213

We welcome your comments and suggestions: nospam-retsina at cs dot cmu dot edu

Internal Site (Restricted Access)