Roles from Different Angles: the role of roles in multiagent systems by Guido Boella, Joris Hulstijn and Leon van der Torre

Course description:

We analyse  different definitions of roles and their properties in different areas, not only in multiagent systems but also, e.g., in Object Orientation. We focus on the properties distinguishing roles from other metaconcepts like natural kinds, properties, facets,  etc. Several well known properties of roles  will be discussed: more agents can enact  the same role, and one agent can enact several roles simultaneously, etc.
We discuss organisation properties, like separation of concerns, role properties (responsibilities, expertise) as well as properties of the agents fulfilling a role (qualifications).

Tutor bio:

Guido Boella is a Professor in computer science at the University of Torino. He is working in the area of multiagent systems. He has published many papers in this area, especially about normative multiagent systems, organizations and roles. He developed the powerJava programming language which introduces the role construct in Java. He is a co-chair of the AAAI fall symposium 2005 on ``Roles, an interdisciplinary perspective", of the ``Normative Multiagent Systems (NorMas)" symposium at AISB 2005 and of the ``Coordination and organization (CoOrg)" workshop at COORDINATION 2005 and 2006. At IAT/WI 2004 he held
a tutorial on normative multiagent systems at IAT/WI  2005 and AAMAS 2005 on roles.  He teaches programming languages and cognitive science at his University

Joris Hulstijn is lecturer in information systems at the faculty of Economics and Business Administration of the Vrije Universiteit. He has taught courses both to undergraduate and graduate audiences. His research is concerned with control mechanisms for virtual organisations [4], agent-oriented software engineering [6] and agent communication [5]. He has published on the use of rolesin modelling natural language dialogue [7].

Leendert van der Torre received the Ph.D. degree in computer science from Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, in 1997. He is currently a Full Professor at the University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg. He has developed the so-called input/output logics and the BOID agent architecture. His current research interests include deontic logic, qualitative game theory, and coordination in normative multiagent systems (NMASs).