Engineering agent frameworks: An application in multi-robot systems

Abstract

In this paper, we present a novel development process called SPEARAF (Species to Engineer Architectures for Agent Frameworks) and evaluate its relevance to ease the implementation of Multi-Agent Systems in the context of a multirobot project for crisis management. SPEARAF allows to build component-based architectures for agents and their infrastructure. We show the advantages of using an architecture-based process to realise an application-specific agent framework adapted to the requirements of such a system. SPEARAF gives guidelines to enables the use of architecture-oriented practices for agent implementation. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.