Industrial applications of multi-agent technology

Abstract

One of the key advantages of multi-agent technology is the support it offers in integrating and coordinating heterogeneous systems in a distributed and open environment. This advantage is increasingly being put to use in industrial environments, in particular, where components are provided by different companies or groups. However, in order to effectively make use of this advantage, standards are required to guide the way in which agents interact and are managed. For this purpose, the Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents (FIPA) was established, which released its first specification, FIPA 97, in October, 1997. The paper presents an overview of the FIPA agent standardisation activities as well as the industrial field trials making use of the FIPA 97 specifications.