The document proposes a unifying approach to modeling agents, organizations, and environments. It introduces the concept of "embodied organizations" where organizational entities are integrated into and control resources in agent environments. This is aimed to better reconcile agents and their work environments with institutional dimensions like organizations. The approach uses artifacts from the A&A meta-model to represent environmental resources and infrastructure that can embody organizations and aid in implementing organizational functions and control over agents. Specifications from the Moise model are used to define organizational structures, missions, norms etc. that can be enforced through such environmental artifacts.

1. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
Embodied Organizations
F. Hübner, A unifying perspective in programming Agents,
Alessandro
Ricci Organizations and Environments
Introduction
A unifying
approach to
MAS Michele Piunti1 Olivier Boissier2 Jomi F. Hübner3
Programming
Alessandro Ricci1
Embodied
Organizations
1 Università degli studi di Bologna - DEIS, Bologna - Italy.
Programming
Model {michele.piunti | a.ricci}@unibo.it
Conclusions 2 Ecole Nationale Superieure des Mines - G2I St-Etienne - France
boissier@emse.fr
3 Federal University of Santa Catarina - DAS, Florianópolis - Brazil
jomi@das.ufsc.br
COIN 2010 - Lyon

2. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Outline
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
F. Hübner,
Alessandro
Ricci
1 Introduction
Introduction
A unifying
approach to
MAS 2 A unifying approach to MAS Programming
Programming
Embodied
Organizations
Programming 3 Embodied Organizations
Model
Conclusions
4 Programming Model
5 Conclusions

3. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Current Issues in MAS
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
F. Hübner,
Programming
Alessandro
Ricci
Introduction
A unifying BELIEFS
INTERNAL
EVENTS ROLES
approach to GOALS
PLANS MISSIONS
MAS DUTIES
ACTIONS
?
Programming PERCEPTIONS
DEONTIC RELATIONS
NORMS
SANCTIONS/REWARDS
Embodied AGENTS ORGANIZATIONS
Organizations
RESOURCES
LEGACY
Programming
SERVICES COMPONENTS
Model
ENVIRONMENTS
Conclusions
A seamless integration of entities and mechanisms is still
needed

4. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Current Approaches
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
F. Hübner,
Alessandro
Ricci
Agent Programming
Introduction Jason [Bordini et al., 2007], Jadex [Pokahr et al., 2005], 2APL [Dastani, 2008], etc.
A unifying
approach to
MAS
Programming
Organization Programming: platforms and approaches
Embodied
Organizations AGR/M AD K IT [Ferber et al., 2003], PowerJade [Baldoni et al., 2008], Electronic
Programming Institutions [Esteva et al., 2004], S-M OISE + [Hübner et al., 2005], O PERA
Model
[Dignum, 2003], etc.
Conclusions
Environment Programming
MASQ, AGRE [Stratulat et al., 2009, Báez-Barranco et al., 2006], Normative
Objects [Okuyama et al., 2009], Situated Electronic Institutions
[Campos et al., 2008], etc.
Brahms [Sierhuis, 2001]

5. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Objectives
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
F. Hübner, Embodying Organizations in Agents’ Environments?
Alessandro
Ricci
• To enable agents to profitably interact with both
Introduction
organizational and other environmental entities;
A unifying
approach to • To enable organizational entities to control agents and
MAS
Programming regiment environmental resources;
Embodied
Organizations • To allow environmental changes to affect both
Programming organizational dynamics and agents activities;
Model
Conclusions

6. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Objectives
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
F. Hübner, Embodying Organizations in Agents’ Environments?
Alessandro
Ricci
• To enable agents to profitably interact with both
Introduction
organizational and other environmental entities;
A unifying
approach to • To enable organizational entities to control agents and
MAS
Programming regiment environmental resources;
Embodied
Organizations • To allow environmental changes to affect both
Programming organizational dynamics and agents activities;
Model
Conclusions
Several outcomes at an application level:
• To reconcile agents and their work environments with institutional
dimensions (i.e. organizations);
• To exploit a strong notion of agency, i.e., mental attitudes
(purposes, knowledge), events, perception
• Interoperability and Openness

7. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Embodied Organization
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
F. Hübner, In human organizations infrastruc- Environment
Alessandro tures are explicitly conceived for eas- Infrastructures
Artifacts
Ricci
ing complex activities/tasks.
Introduction
Cross disciplinary approach:
A unifying
approach to • Intelligent use of Space
MAS [Kirsh, 1995]
Programming
Embodied
• Theory of Social Actions
Organizations [Castelfranchi, 1998]
Patient
Programming Agents
Model
Environments are instrumented with Staff Agents
Conclusions specific Infrastructures Staff Agent Visitor
Aiding purposes, easing agent works Agents
To provide a set of coherent Infrastructures instrumenting environments
for implementing Organizations and Environments
[Piunti et al., 2009a, Piunti et al., 2009b]

8. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Outline
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
F. Hübner,
Alessandro
Ricci
1 Introduction
Introduction
A unifying
approach to
MAS 2 A unifying approach to MAS Programming
Programming
Embodied
Organizations
Programming 3 Embodied Organizations
Model
Conclusions
4 Programming Model
5 Conclusions

9. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Unifying approach to MAS
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
F. Hübner,
Programming
Alessandro
Ricci
Introduction
A unifying A-E
approach to AGENT(S) ENVIRONMENT
MAS
Programming
Embodied
Organizations A-O O-E
Programming
Model
Conclusions ORGANIZATION

10. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Unifying approach to MAS
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
F. Hübner,
Programming
Alessandro
Ricci
Introduction
A unifying A-E
approach to AGENT(S) ENVIRONMENT
MAS
Programming
Embodied
Organizations A-O O-E
Programming
Model
Conclusions ORGANIZATION

11. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Environment Programming
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
F. Hübner,
Alessandro
Ricci
A&A meta-model for MAS [Omicini et al., 2008] :
Introduction
A unifying
approach to
Agents Autonomous and
MAS self-interested entities
Programming
encapsulating their
Embodied
Organizations
control.
Artifacts Non-autonomous Artifacts
Programming
Model
entities.
Conclusions
Workspaces Virtual containers of Agents
agents and artifacts,
defining the topology Hospital
workspace
and the properties of
the environment.

12. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Artifact Metamodel
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
F. Hübner,
Alessandro OBSERVABLE
Ricci update Observable EVENTS
GENERATION
Property <EvName,Params>
OBSERVABLE
name ObsPropName Value PROPERTIES
value
Introduction ObsPropName Value
Manual
1 functions ... ...
A unifying operating
approach to instructions
OPERATION X
MAS Usage Interface OpControlName(Params)
Programming 1 1 Usage Control
Artifact USAGE OpControlName(Params)
Interface name
OPERATION Y
params INTERFACE
...
Embodied trigger
Organizations control
Operation
Programming generate Observable
Event ARTIFACT
Model MANUAL
LINK
INTERFACE
Conclusions
Usage Interface and Observable Properties
• Basic building block for decentralized MAS environments
• “Object” at an agent level of abstraction

13. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Model for A-E Interactions
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
F. Hübner,
Alessandro
Ricci
A-E
AGENT(S) ENVIRONMENT
Introduction
A unifying
approach to
MAS
Programming A-O O-E
Embodied
Organizations
Programming ORGANIZATION
Model
Conclusions
Actions and Perceptions
• Native capabilities of agents;
• Addressed at artifacts (and workspaces) functionalities

14. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Agent-Artifact Interaction
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
F. Hübner,
Metamodel
Alessandro
Ricci
update Observable perceive
Property observe
name
Introduction value
Manual
consult
A unifying 1 functions
operating
approach to instructions
MAS Usage Interface
Programming Work 1 1 Usage Control use
Artifact Agent
Environment Interface name
Embodied params
trigger
Organizations control
Operation
Programming generate Observable perceive
Model Event
Conclusions
join
Workspace quit
Pragmatic and Epistemic Actions
• Agent-Environment (A-E) interactions are based on the notion of:
Usage and Perception [Piunti and Ricci, 2008]

15. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
CArtAgO Infrastructure
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
F. Hübner,
Alessandro makeArtifact
Ricci payments
focus
pay
Introduction
use
A unifying BillingMachine
approach to
MAS
Programming
Embodied
Hospital Workspace
Organizations
Agent
Programming + Bridge
Platform(s) (i.e. c4Jason,
CArtAgO node
Model
c4Jadex)
Conclusions
Orthogonality Improved repertoire of agent’s actions:
• .joinWorkspace
• Heterogeneous agents (Jason, • .makeArtifact
Jadex) work in artifact based • .lookupArtifacts
environments;
• . ...
• .use
• Integration technologies (bridges) • .observeProperty
[Piunti et al., 2008, Ricci et al., 2009]. • .focus

16. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Environment Management
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
F. Hübner,
Infrastructures
Alessandro
Ricci Hospital Scenario
Introduction
A unifying
approach to Artifacts are viewed as a set of re-
MAS
Programming sources exploitable by agents STAFF
Embodied
• Goal Oriented Interaction
Organizations • Externalisation STAFF visits
sendBill
signDoc
Programming
Model
• Coordination sendFee
Terminal
signPat
SurgeryTablet
EMI
Conclusions ENVIRONMENT
ARTIFACTS
For instance in Jason: payments
reservations
VISITOR
pay
bookVisit
+!execute_pay VISITOR BillingMachine Desk
: artifact_id(billing, BmId) Hospital
Workspace
& payment(Params)
Agent
<- cartago.use(BmId, pay(Params), Platforms
Receipt).

17. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Organization Programming
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
F. Hübner,
Alessandro
Ricci
Introduction
A unifying
approach to A-E
AGENT(S) ENVIRONMENT
MAS
Programming
Embodied
Organizations
A-O O-E
Programming
Model
Conclusions ORGANIZATION

18. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
M OISE Model
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
F. Hübner,
Alessandro
Ricci
Introduction
A unifying
Organization is specified by defining a set of dimensions
approach to
MAS
[Hübner et al., 2007]1 :
Programming
Embodied
Organizations
Structural Roles, Groups, Relationships
Programming
Model Functional Goals, Missions, deadlines (time-to-fulfill)
Conclusions
Deontic Norms, Obligations
1 For the adoption of M OISE we would thank the G2I group at Ecole des Mines, St-Etienne.

19. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Hospital Scenario: Structural
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
F. Hübner,
dimension
Alessandro
Ricci
Visitor Staff
Introduction
A unifying 0..1
approach to Escort Patient Doctor
MAS
0..1 1..1 1..1
Programming
Embodied Visit Staff
Group Group
Organizations
0..NVMAX Surgery Room 1..1
Group
Programming
Model
LEGEND
LINKS INTRA-GROUP EXTRA-GROUP
Conclusions inheritance
min..max acquaintance
composition
communication
ROLE
authority
GROUP
ABS compatibility
ROLE
(a) Structural Specification in Moise in the Hospital Scenario

20. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Hospital Scenario: Functional
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
F. Hübner,
dimension
Alessandro
Ricci
visitorSch monitorSch
Introduction
visitor monitor
A unifying scheme scheme
approach to
MAS
Programming mVisit mVisit visit mStaff
mVisit enforcement
enter book observe
Embodied exit
the room the visit
[5 minutes]
Organizations
mPatient mPay
do the pay mRew mSan
Programming visit visit send send
Model [30 minutes] [30 minutes] bill fee
[1 day] [1 day]
Conclusions
docSch
mDoc
LEGEND
Doctor
mDoc scheme
missions
visit
goal
patient
[TTF] sequence choice parallelism
[30 minutes]
(b) Functional Specification in Moise

21. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Hospital Scenario: Deontic
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
F. Hübner,
dimension
Alessandro
Ricci
Introduction
A unifying
approach to
MAS
Programming
Embodied
Organizations
Programming
Model
Conclusions
(c) Deontic Specification in Moise
Controlling agent’s autonomy with Norms
• Organization prescribes a set of norms (obligations, prohibitions
permissions);
• Agents may decide to violate norms;
• Once a norm is violated the organization configuration has to be
updated

22. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Organization Management
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
F. Hübner,
Infrastructures
Alessandro
Ricci
• ORA4MAS [Hübner et al., 2009] OMI is composed by a set of
Introduction artifacts providing agents with organizational functions;
A unifying
approach to
• Artifact initialized with the M OISE specification
MAS
Programming
• Define also A-O
Embodied
Organizations
Programming
Model Norm violations are relevant ESCORT
Conclusions events stored as artifact events
GroupBoards
OMI
ORGANISATIONAL
ARTIFACTS
For instance in Jason:
+!commit_mission(M) VISITOR SchemeBoards
: artifact_id(sch, SchId) Hospital
VISITOR
<- cartago.use(SchId, Workspace
commitMission(M)).
Agent
Platforms

23. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Outline
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
F. Hübner,
Alessandro
Ricci
1 Introduction
Introduction
A unifying
approach to
MAS 2 A unifying approach to MAS Programming
Programming
Embodied
Organizations
Programming 3 Embodied Organizations
Model
Conclusions
4 Programming Model
5 Conclusions

24. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Embodied Organizations
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
F. Hübner,
Alessandro A-E
AGENT(S) ENVIRONMENT
Ricci
Introduction A-O O-E
A unifying
approach to
ORGANIZATION
MAS
Programming
Embodied
Organizations
Programming
Model
Conclusions

25. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Embodied Organizations
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
F. Hübner,
Alessandro A-E
AGENT(S) ENVIRONMENT
Ricci
Introduction A-O O-E
A unifying
approach to
ORGANIZATION
MAS
Programming
Embodied
Organizations
Programming
Model EMI
ENVIRONMENT
Conclusions
STAFF
ARTIFACTS
STAFF
E-O Integration
Terminal
GroupBoards SurgeryTablet • To recast events and changes
OMI
ORGANISATIONAL
ARTIFACTS
occurring inside environment to
SchemeBoards
the organizational infrastructure
VISITOR
BillingMachine
Desk
• and the other way
Hospital VISITOR
Workspace
Agent
Platforms

26. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Constitutive Rules
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi Constitutive Rules [Searle, 1964]
F. Hübner,
Alessandro
Ricci • Typical of human societies (Social Reality [Searle, 1997] )
Introduction
• The reification of a state in a particular context may constitute the
A unifying
realization of a particular institutional/organizational fact
approach to
MAS count-as
Programming
Embodied Environment count-as Organisation
Organizations Management Management
Infrastructure Infrastructure
Programming
Agents
Model
enact
Conclusions
• Used to automate particular dynamics between E-O:

27. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Constitutive Rules
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi Constitutive Rules [Searle, 1964]
F. Hübner,
Alessandro
Ricci • Typical of human societies (Social Reality [Searle, 1997] )
Introduction
• The reification of a state in a particular context may constitute the
A unifying
realization of a particular institutional/organizational fact
approach to
MAS count-as
Programming
Embodied Environment count-as Organisation
Organizations Management Management
Infrastructure Infrastructure
Programming
Agents
Model
enact
Conclusions
• Used to automate particular dynamics between E-O:
• “Entering an ambulatory room count-as adopting the role
patient”
• “Finalizing the payment operation on the billing machine
count-as achieving the goal pay”
• “A sold out in the visit schedule enact the suspension of the
booking service”

28. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Embodied Organization
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
F. Hübner,
Metamodel
Alessandro
Ricci
Introduction O-E functional relationships defined by Constitutive Rules
A unifying based on Events:
approach to
MAS
Programming Environment
Event Event
Embodied Ev Type
Organizations Ev Value Organization
Event
Programming
Triggers
Model
Conclusions Constitutive 1..n Embodied
Rule
Organization
(Emb-Org-Rule) Produces
Count-as Enact
Rule Rule

29. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Outline
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
F. Hübner,
Alessandro
Ricci
1 Introduction
Introduction
A unifying
approach to
MAS 2 A unifying approach to MAS Programming
Programming
Embodied
Organizations
Programming 3 Embodied Organizations
Model
Conclusions
4 Programming Model
5 Conclusions

30. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Formal Model
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
F. Hübner, Implementing Emb-Org-Rules implies to re-engineer
Alessandro
Ricci CArtAgO by indruducing:
Introduction Workspace Events
A unifying
approach to
Workspace rules
MAS
Programming
Embodied MAS = Ws
Organizations
Programming
Ws = { wsn , Ag, Ar , Art, Ev , M, R, t }
Model Ag = { agid , ags , agEv , agpr }
Conclusions Ar = { arid , art , I, O, P, V }
Table: Structures inside a MAS (implemented by CArtAgO)
Formal model described by a transition system in the thesis

31. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Workspace Events
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
F. Hübner,
Alessandro
Ricci Ws = Ag, Ar , Art, Ev, M, R, t
Introduction
A unifying
CArtAgO
Workspace Events
approach to
MAS
Are records of significant changes in the
Programming application domain (i.e., state/processes).
Embodied
Organizations
1 Can be perceived by agents focusing
artifacts
Programming
Workspace Kernel
Model WORKSPACE 2 Can be collected and ranked at the
EVENTS ( Ev ) R Art M
Conclusions workspace level
ev = evt , evv
Event pairs (type, value) from Observable Properties and from Operations
Execution

32. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Workspace Rules
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
Ws = Ag, Ar , Art, Ev , M, R, t
F. Hübner, CArtAgO
Workspace
Alessandro Legend
Ricci
AGENT
Needed to specify rules governing
ARTIFACT
Introduction
intra-workspace dynamics OBSERVABLE PROPERTY
A unifying OPERATION
LINK OPERATION
approach to
ACTION
MAS PERCEPTION
Programming Workspace as a WORKSPACE
LAWS ( R ) Ev
Workspace Kernel
Art M
LINK
WS OPERATOR
Embodied
Organizations programmable entity
Programming
Model
Conclusions Event-Condition-Action (ECA) rules:
“when ev in the context c apply a”
• +ev : c → a
• ev ∈ Ev
• c refers to observable states
∈ Ar
• a refers to a set of workspace
operators

33. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Workspace Rules
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
Ws = Ag, Ar , Art, Ev , M, R, t
F. Hübner, CArtAgO
Workspace
Alessandro Legend
Ricci
AGENT
Needed to specify rules governing
ARTIFACT
Introduction
intra-workspace dynamics OBSERVABLE PROPERTY
A unifying OPERATION
LINK OPERATION
approach to
ACTION
MAS PERCEPTION
Programming Workspace as a WORKSPACE
LAWS ( R ) Ev
Workspace Kernel
Art M
LINK
WS OPERATOR
Embodied
Organizations programmable entity
Programming
Model
Basic Workspace Operators:
Conclusions Event-Condition-Action (ECA) rules:
“when ev in the context c apply a” (1) applyOp(arid , opname [, Params])
• +ev : c → a (2) applyLop(arid , opname [, Params])
(3) make(arid , artn [, Params])
• ev ∈ Ev (4) dispose(arid )
• c refers to observable states (5) disable(arid [, agid ] {, opname })
∈ Ar (6) enable(arid [, agid ] {, opname })
• a refers to a set of workspace (7) exclude(agid )
operators (8) include(agid )

34. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Hospital Scenario: EMI
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
F. Hübner, visitorSch monitorSch
visitor
Alessandro scheme
monitor
scheme
Ricci
Introduction mVisit mVisit visit
mVisit
mStaff
enter book enforcement
exit observe
A unifying the room the visit
approach to mPatient mPay
MAS do the pay mRew mSan
send send
Programming visit visit
bill fee
Embodied joinWorkspace use use focus
Hospital Desk BillingMachine Desk,
Organizations bookVisit pay BillingMachine
use use use
Programming quitWorkspace
SurgeryTablet Terminal Terminal
Hospital
Model signPat sendBill sendFee
docSch
Doctor
Conclusions scheme
Hospital visits
reservations
Workspace signDoc
bookVisit signPat
mDoc
visit
Desk SurgeryTablet
patient
payments
sendBill
pay sendFee
use
SurgeryTablet ENVIRONMENT
signDoc MANAGEMENT BillingMachine Terminal
INFRASTRUCTURE

35. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Hospital Scenario: Count-as
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
F. Hübner,
Alessandro
Ricci
Count-As Rules
An event occurring in the system may “count-as” an institutional event
Introduction
and automatically update the organization
A unifying
approach to
MAS +join_req(Ag)
Programming +ws_leaved(Ag)
-> make("visitorGroupBoard",
-> apply("visitorGroupBoard",
"OMI.GroupBoard",
Embodied leaveRole(Ag, "patient")).
["moise/hospital.xml","visitGroup"]);
Organizations
make("visitorSchBoard",
+op_completed("BillingMachine",
Programming "OMI.SchemeBoard",
Ag, pay)
Model ["moise/hospital.xml","visitorSch"]);
-> apply("visitorSchBoard",
apply("visitorGroupBoard",
setGoalAchieved(Ag, pay_visit)).
Conclusions adoptRole(Ag, "patient"));
include(Ag).
+op_completed("Terminal",
+op_completed("visitorGroupBoard", _,
Ag, sendFee)
adoptRole(Ag, "patient"))
-> apply("monitorSchBoard",
-> apply("visitorSchBoard",
setGoalAchieved(Ag, send_fee)).
commitMission(Ag, "mPat")).
Figure: Example of count-as rules in the Hospital scenario.

36. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Hospital Scenario: Enact
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
F. Hübner,
Alessandro
Ricci
Enact Rules
Introduction
Organization may produce a control by enacting changes upon the
A unifying
approach to environment (i.e., to promote equilibrium, avoid undesiderable states).
MAS
Programming
Embodied +signal("monitorSchBoard",
Organizations goal_non_compliance,
+signal("visitorGroupBoard", obligation(Ag,
Programming role_cardinality, visitor) ngoa(monitorSch,mRew,send_bill),
Model : true achieved(monitorSch,send_bill,Ag),
-> disable("Desk", bookVisit). TTF)
Conclusions : true
-> exclude(Ag).
Figure: Example of enact rules in the hospital scenario.

37. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Outline
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
F. Hübner,
Alessandro
Ricci
1 Introduction
Introduction
A unifying
approach to
MAS 2 A unifying approach to MAS Programming
Programming
Embodied
Organizations
Programming 3 Embodied Organizations
Model
Conclusions
4 Programming Model
5 Conclusions

38. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Conclusions
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
F. Hübner,
Alessandro An unifying approach to MAS programming
Ricci
Introduction
• Embodied Organization;
A unifying • No need for agents to bring about organizational notions;
approach to
MAS • Environment infrastructures succeed to mediate between agents
Programming
and organizations;
Embodied
Organizations • Global dynamics shaped on workspace events and transparently
Programming handled by the system.
Model
Conclusions

39. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Conclusions
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
F. Hübner,
Alessandro An unifying approach to MAS programming
Ricci
Introduction
• Embodied Organization;
A unifying • No need for agents to bring about organizational notions;
approach to
MAS • Environment infrastructures succeed to mediate between agents
Programming
and organizations;
Embodied
Organizations • Global dynamics shaped on workspace events and transparently
Programming handled by the system.
Model
Conclusions Limitations and Aspects we do not address (yet):
• Direct communication between agents (Agent-Agent interaction)
through message passing (i.e. ACL) is not currently under the
control of the organization.
• Complex interaction patterns may result in many relationship to be
specified between E-O.

40. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Perspectives
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
F. Hübner,
Alessandro
Ricci Ongoing and Furure Work:
Introduction • To generalize the mechanism of Workspace Laws and Embodied
A unifying Organization Rules defining a wide set of inter-system functional
approach to
MAS
relations (i.e. access control, security);
Programming
• To provide a general framweork for integrated MAS development
Embodied
Organizations
Programming
Model Applications in future ICT:
Conclusions
• Any scenario integrating artificial agents, devices, humans in the
same application
• Future Internet, Cloud Computing
• Sociotechnical systems, pervasive computing
• Virtualization, Electronic Marketplaces, etc.

41. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Bibliography I
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
F. Hübner,
Alessandro Báez-Barranco, J.-A., Stratulat, T., and Ferber, J. (2006).
Ricci A unified model for physical and social environments.
In Environments for Multi-Agent Systems III, Third International Workshop
Introduction (E4MAS 2006), volume 4389 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science, pages
A unifying 41–50. Springer.
approach to
MAS Baldoni, M., Genovese, V., and van der Torre, L. (2008).
Programming
Adding Organizations and Roles as primitives to the JADE framework.
Embodied In Proc. of the 3rd International Workshop on Normative MAS.
Organizations
Bordini, R. H., Hübner, J. F., and Wooldrige, M. (2007).
Programming
Model Programming Multi-Agent Systems in AgentSpeak using Jason.
Wiley Series in Agent Technology. John Wiley & Sons.
Conclusions
Campos, J., Lòopez-Sànchez, M., Rodrìguez-Aguilar, J. A., and Esteva, M.
(2008).
Formalising Situatedness and Adaptation in Electronic Institutions.
In COIN-08, Proc.
Castelfranchi, C. (1998).
Modeling Social Action for AI Agents.
Artificial Intelligence, 103:157–182.

42. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Bibliography II
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
F. Hübner, Dastani, M. (2008).
Alessandro 2APL: a practical agent programming language.
Ricci Autonomous Agent and Multi-Agent Systems, 16:214–248.
Introduction Dastani, M., Grossi, D., Meyer, J.-J. C., and Tinnemeier, N. A. M. (2008).
A unifying
Normative Multi-Agent Programs and Their Logics.
approach to In Knowledge Representation for Agents and Multi-Agent Systems, First
MAS International Workshop, KRAMAS 2008, Sydney, Australia, Revised Selected
Programming
Papers, volume 5605 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer.
Embodied
Organizations Dignum, M. V. F. d. A. J. G. (2003).
Programming
A model for organizational interaction: based on agents, founded in logic.
Model PhD thesis, Utrecht University, SIKS dissertation series 2004-1.
Conclusions Esteva, M., Rodríguez-Aguilar, J. A., Rosell, B., and L., J. (2004).
AMELI: An agent-based middleware for electronic institutions.
In Proceedings of International conference on Autonomous Agents and Multi
Agent Systems (AAMAS’04), pages 236–243, New York. ACM.
Ferber, J., Gutknecht, O., and Michel, F. (2003).
From Agents to Organizations: An Organizational View of Multi-agent
Systems.
In Proceedings of (AOSE-03), volume 2935 of Lecture Notes Computer
Science (LNCS). Springer.

43. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Bibliography III
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
F. Hübner,
Alessandro Hübner, J. F., Boissier, O., Kitio, R., and Ricci, A. (2009).
Ricci Instrumenting Multi-Agent Organisations with Organisational Artifacts and
Agents.
Introduction
Journal of Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems.
A unifying
approach to Hübner, J. F., Sichman, J. S., and Boissier, O. (2005).
MAS S-moise+ : A middleware for developing organised multi-agent systems.
Programming
In Boissier, O., Padget, J. A., Dignum, V., Lindemann, G., Matson, E. T.,
Embodied Ossowski, S., Sichman, J. S., and Vázquez-Salceda, J., editors,
Organizations
Coordination, Organizations, Institutions, and Norms in Multi-Agent Systems,
Programming AAMAS 2005 International Workshops, volume 3913 of Lecture Notes in
Model
Computer Science, pages 64–78. Springer.
Conclusions
Hübner, J. F., Sichman, J. S., and Boissier, O. (2007).
Developing Organised Multi-Agent Systems Using the M OISE Model:
Programming Issues at the System and Agent Levels.
Agent-Oriented Software Engineering, 1(3/4):370–395.
Kirsh, D. (1995).
The intelligent use of space.
Artificial Intelligence, 73(1-2):31–68.

44. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Bibliography IV
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
F. Hübner,
Alessandro
Ricci Okuyama, F. Y., Bordini, R. H., and da Rocha Costa, A. C. (2009).
A Distributed Normative Infrastructure for Situated Multi-Agent
Introduction Organisations.
In Decl. Agent Lang. & Techn. (DALT-VI), volume 5397 of LNCS. Springer.
A unifying
approach to
MAS
Omicini, A., Ricci, A., and Viroli, M. (2008).
Programming Artifacts in the A&A meta-model for multi-agent systems.
Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems, 17 (3).
Embodied
Organizations
Piunti, M. and Ricci, A. (2008).
Programming From Agents to Artifacts Back and Forth: Purposive and Doxastic use of
Model
Artifacts in MAS.
Conclusions In Proceedings of Sixth European Workshop on Multi-Agent
Systems(EUMAS-08), Bath, UK.
Piunti, M., Ricci, A., Boissier, O., and Hübner, J. F. (2009a).
Embodied Organisations in MAS Environments.
In Braubach, L., van der Hoek, W., Petta, P., and Pokahr, A., editors, MATES,
volume 5774 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science, pages 115–127.
Springer.

45. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Bibliography V
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
F. Hübner,
Alessandro
Piunti, M., Ricci, A., Boissier, O., and Hübner, J. F. (2009b).
Ricci Embodying Organisations in Multi-agent Work Environments.
In Proceedings of the 2009 IEEE/WIC/ACM International Joint Conference
Introduction on Web Intelligence and Intelligent Agent Technology (WI-IAT 2009), pages
A unifying 511–518, Milan, Italy. IEEE.
approach to
MAS Piunti, M., Ricci, A., Braubach, L., and Pokahr, A. (2008).
Programming Goal-directed Interactions in Artifact-Based MAS: Jadex Agents playing in
Embodied CArtAgO Environments.
Organizations In IEEE/WIC/ACM International Joint Conference on Web Intelligence and
Programming Intelligent Agent Technology (WI-IAT 2008), Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Model
Pokahr, A., Braubach, L., and Lamersdorf, W. (2005).
Conclusions Jadex: A BDI Reasoning Engine.
In Bordini, R. H., Dastani, M., Dix, J., and Fallah-Seghrouchni, A. E., editors,
Multi-Agent Programming, volume 15 of Multiagent Systems, Artificial
Societies, and Simulated Organizations, pages 149–174. Springer.
Ricci, A., Piunti, M., Viroli, M., and Omicini, A. (2009).
Environment programming in CArtAgO.
In Multi-Agent Programming: Languages, Platforms and Applications, Vol. 2,
pages 259–288. Springer.

46. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Bibliography VI
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
F. Hübner,
Alessandro
Ricci
Searle, J. R. (1964).
Introduction
Speech Acts, chapter What is a Speech Act?
A unifying Cambridge University Press.
approach to
MAS Searle, J. R. (1997).
Programming
The Construction of Social Reality.
Embodied Free Press.
Organizations
Sierhuis, M. (2001).
Programming
Model Modeling and Simulating Work Practice; Brahms: A multiagent modeling and
simulation language for work system analysis and design.
Conclusions
PhD thesis, University of Amsterdam, SIKS Dissertation Series.
Stratulat, T., Ferber, J., and Tranier, J. (2009).
MASQ: Towards an Integral Approach of Agent-Based Interaction.
In Proc. of 8th Conf. on Agents and Multi Agent Systems (AAMAS-09).

47. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
Embodied Organizations
F. Hübner, A unifying perspective in programming Agents,
Alessandro
Ricci Organizations and Environments
Introduction
A unifying
approach to
MAS Michele Piunti1 Olivier Boissier2 Jomi F. Hübner3
Programming
Alessandro Ricci1
Embodied
Organizations
1 Università degli studi di Bologna - DEIS, Bologna - Italy.
Programming
Model {michele.piunti | a.ricci}@unibo.it
Conclusions 2 Ecole Nationale Superieure des Mines - G2I St-Etienne - France
boissier@emse.fr
3 Federal University of Santa Catarina - DAS, Florianópolis - Brazil
jomi@das.ufsc.br
COIN 2010 - Lyon

48. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Situated Organizations
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi • MASQ, AGRE [Stratulat et al., 2009, Báez-Barranco et al., 2006]: integrate
F. Hübner,
Alessandro
different dimensions (agents, environment, interactions, organizations and
Ricci institutions) into an integral view;
• Distributed normative infrastructures: “normative places” and “normative
Introduction
objects”, reactive entities inspectable by agents and containing readable
A unifying information about norms [Okuyama et al., 2009].
approach to
MAS • Situated Electronic Institutions [Campos et al., 2008]: governor entities
Programming allow to bridge environmental structures by instrumenting environments with
Embodied embodied devices controlled by the institutional apparatus.
Organizations
• Constitutive rules [Searle, 1997] to bridge the gap between environment
Programming
Model and institutional dimensions:
Conclusions • The reification of a particular state in a normative place may
constitute the realization of a particular institutional fact (e.g., “being
on a car driver seat makes an agent to play the role driver”)
[Okuyama et al., 2009].
• “Normative artifact” as a container of institutional facts (facts related to
the institutional states), and brute facts (states related to the concrete
workplace where agents dwell) [Dastani et al., 2008]. “Count-as” and
“sanctioning” rules allows the infrastructure to recast brute facts to
institutional ones and provide normative control.

49. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Syntax of Workspace Rules
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
F. Hübner,
Alessandro
Ricci
Introduction
A unifying
approach to
MAS
Programming
Embodied
Organizations
Programming
Model
Conclusions

50. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Regimentation and Enforcement
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
F. Hübner, Organisational
Alessandro Regimentation done by Artifacts
Ricci EOA+OA
Introduction
mechanisms
used by
Enforcement done by
A unifying
approach to detection
MAS
evaluation
Programming done by Staff
judgement done by Agent
Embodied
Organizations
Programming
Model
Conclusions
• Regimentation is done by enabling and disabling
operation controls (uic) on environment artifacts
(visitDoor)
• This enables or prevents the use of artifacts (CArtAgO
implements RBAC)
• Enforcement is done (by staff/organizational agents) by
using special artifacts (i.e. the terminal to send fines,
the phone to call police, etc.)

51. Embodied
Organizations
Michele Piunti,
Olivier
Boissier, Jomi
Embodied Organizations
F. Hübner, A unifying perspective in programming Agents,
Alessandro
Ricci Organizations and Environments
Introduction
A unifying
approach to
MAS Michele Piunti1 Olivier Boissier2 Jomi F. Hübner3
Programming
Alessandro Ricci1
Embodied
Organizations
1 Università degli studi di Bologna - DEIS, Bologna - Italy.
Programming
Model {michele.piunti | a.ricci}@unibo.it
Conclusions 2 Ecole Nationale Superieure des Mines - G2I St-Etienne - France
boissier@emse.fr
3 Federal University of Santa Catarina - DAS, Florianópolis - Brazil
jomi@das.ufsc.br
COIN 2010 - Lyon