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From: almassy@rzuhp.ifi.unizh.ch (Nikolaus Almassy)
Subject: 2nd Announcement: Practice and Future of Autonomous Agents
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2nd announcement

	   Practice  and  Future  of  Autonomous  Agents:
			     ASI-AA-95

		   23 September - 1 October 1995
		      Centro Stefano Franscini
		 Monte Verit'a, Ticino, Switzerland


(Follow-up meeting of the NATO Advanced Study Institute "The Biology
and Technology of Intelligent Autonomous Agents", which took place
Spring 1993 in Trento, Italy).


Sponsored by:

  Swiss Federal Institute of Technology; Computer Science Department,
  University of Zurich; SGAICO (Swiss Group for Artificial Intelligence and
  Cognitive Science); Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, MIT; Applied AI
  Systems, Ottawa, Canada; Nippon Signal, Japan; Uchidate, Japan.

Goal of the Advanced Study Institute "Practice and Future of Autonomous Agents"

  The goal of the Advanced Study Institute (ASI) is to bring together the
  world's leading experts in the field of autonomous agents (AA) for an
  extended period of time in order to bring the existing research community
  closer together and to extend it to younger researchers.  As a result we
  expect a state-of-the-art assessment of the field, including a research
  agenda for the near future.  We hope that many joint research endeavors
  will emerge from the close collaboration in the workshops.

Current Situation:  Autonomous Agents Research in 1995

  Because technical skills about robot building are now widely available,
  promoting these skills at an ASI is no longer the primary objective.
  However, from a conceptual point of view there are still many fundamental
  issues in AA design that we do not yet sufficiently understand.
  Moreover, there is less need to provide complete coverage of all aspects
  of the field since by now they are well-known in the research community.
  For this reason the meeting will be focused on a number of core aspects
  of real world autonomous agents.  When the study institute will take
  place, roughly 2 1/2 years will have passed since the one in Trento took
  place.  Therefore, it is important to evaluate what has been achieved in
  the meantime.

Main topics of the Advanced Study Institute

  The field of autonomous agents has significantly matured during the last
  few years.  We are beyond the stage where robots are designed mainly
  based on intuition.  It is therefore a good time to make an assessment of
  the current state of the theory of autonomous agents.

  Theory: What are the recent developments in the theory of autonomous
	  agents?

  Design: How can autonomous agents be designed which show sophisticated
	  kinds of behavior?

  Performance measures: How can the performance of the agents be
	  quantified?

Topic areas:

  The Cog project; behavioral economics approach; evolutionary approaches;
  "complete autonomous systems"; self-organization, learning, and
  grounding; dynamical systems; collective behavior; industrial session.

Confirmed speakers (list to be completed):

  Randy Beer, Case Western Reserve University, US;
  Ren'e te Boekhorst, University of Zurich, CH;
  Rodney Brooks, MIT, US;
  Dave Cliff, University of Sussex, UK;
  Daniel Dennett, Turfts University, USA;
  Rodney Douglas, Oxford University, UK;
  Philippe Gaussier, ENSEA ETIS, F;
  Inman Harvey, University of Sussex, UK;
  Charlotte Hemelrijk, University of Zurich, CH;
  Phil Husbands, University of Sussex, UK;
  Maja Mataric, MIT, US (Brandeis University, US);
  David McFarland, Oxford University, UK;
  Gregor Sch"oner, Marseille, F;
  Tim Smithers, University of the Basque Country, SP;
  Luc Steels, Free University of Brussels, B;
  Takashi Gomi, Ottawa, Canada.


Workshop organizers (list to be completed):

  Rodney Brooks,          Jean-Daniel Nicoud,          Marinus Maris,
  Lynn-Andreas Stein,     Luc Steels, Tim Smithers,    Christian Scheier,
  Matthew Marjanovic,     Ren'e Schaad,                Daniel Meier
  Francesco Mondada,      Dimitrios Lambrinos,         and others.

Format:

  The ASI consists of the following parts: lectures, workshops, background
  lectures, poster/demo session, special robot event, panel discussions.


  Lectures. The lectures will provide a state-of-the-art overview of the
	field including the currently hottest research topics.  They have
	a tutorial and a research aspect and should be attended by
	everyone.

  Workshops. The afternoons and some evenings are reserved for workshops.
	They are conducted in parallel and will consist of concrete case
	studies with active contributions of all the participants.  This
	can also include presentations.  The case studies will include all
	three aspects of AA, namely theory, design, and performance
	evaluation and will address questions like: How could the designs
	of particular agents be improved?  How would the agents look like
	if viewed from a different design perspective?  etc.  Because the
	participants already have experience in the field these workshops
	will be a main forum for exchanging ideas.  A list of the workshops
	will be announced early next year.

  Background lectures. To embed the topics of the workshop into a larger
	framework a number of background lectures will be held in the
	evenings.

  Poster/Demo Sessions. The poster and demonstration sessions will give all
	participants the opportunity to present their own work.  This is
	also a forum to facilitate communication during the ASI.

  Panel discussions. Panel discussions will be organized to work out the
	strengths, weaknesses, points of agreement and disagreement of the
	various approaches.

  Special event. A special event will be organized which should capture the
	"spirit" of the ASI.  Because the various workshop groups will have
	their own robots to work with, the goal is having some or all of
	them work together on a common task (heterogeneous collective
	robots).  This could not only be a lot of fun, but is also of great
	theoretical interest.  More details on this special event will be
	announced later.

Application Procedure

  Deadline for applications:   April 13, 1995
  Notification of acceptance:  May 15, 1995

  The application should include:

    1. Statement of contribution.  A two-page description of the
       contribution participants plan to make in terms of demos,
       contribution to workshops, etc.
    2. Poster/Demo.  Each participant is expected to contribute a poster
       presentation.  Demonstrations are also of great interest.  An
       abstract should be submitted with the application.
    3. Background information.  A short description of the research
       background (CV) should be submitted with the application.
    4. Robots and simulations.

  Participants are encouraged to bring along their own robots and/or
  simulation environments.  It would be great to have a large variety of
  different types of robots for the special event.  They should all think
  about the special event and prepare their own robots in a way that will
  make success on a common task/game more likely.  Please state if you can
  bring a robot (and if yes, what kind).  This is not a condition for
  participation.

Fees

  Registration:    academic CHF 400.00, industrial CHF 600.00
  Room and board:  academic CHF 800.00, industrial CHF 1400.00

  Note: This includes 8 nights at the hotel, 3 meals a day, and coffee
  during breaks. The calculation of the costs for room and board are based
  on the assumption that the participants reside in the conference hotel
  (double rooms with a superb view of the Lago Maggiore and the Swiss and
  Italian mountains).  If you prefer a single room, there are many local
  hotels available in Ascona, a nearby village which is a very popular
  tourist resort.

Organization

  Director:
  Rolf Pfeifer, University of Zurich, Switzerland

Program Committee:

  Rodney Brooks, MIT, Cambridge, Mass., USA
  Jean-Daniel Nicoud, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland
  Tim Smithers, University of the Basque Country, San Sebastian, Spain
  Luc Steels, Free University of Brussels, Belgium
      (organizer of the previous ASI in Trento)
  Takashi Gomi, Applied AI Systems, Ottawa, Canada

Local organization:

  Autonomous Agents Research Group,
  AI Lab, Department of Computer Science,
  University of Zurich, Switzerland

Further information:

  Rolf Pfeifer
  AI Lab, Computer Science Department
  University of Zurich                 E-mail:  pfeifer@ifi.unizh.ch
  Winterthurerstrasse 190              Fax:     + 41 - 1 - 363 00 35
  CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland          Phone:   + 41 - 1 - 257 43 20/31

  WWW information:
  Consult the following WWW page at URL: http://www.ifi.unizh.ch/asi-aa.html
  It will always contain the most recent program, additional
  information about the workshops, travel information, etc.
  See also ftp://ftp.ifi.unizh.ch/pub/monteverita/ASI-AA-95.txt

--
Nikolaus Almassy,       Department of Computer Science,
  University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zurich
  Tel: +41 1 257 43 47, Fax: +41 1 363 00 35, almassy@ifi.unizh.ch
  http://josef.ifi.unizh.ch/groups/ailab/people/almassy.html
