Australian Artificial Intelligence Institute
Encyclopedia
In Australia
, the Australian Artificial Intelligence Institute (Australian AI Institute, AAII, or A2I2) was a government funded research and development laboratory for investigating and commercializing Artificial Intelligence
, specifically Intelligent Software Agents
.
and closed in 1999. It was backed by support from the Computer Power Group, SRI International
and the Victorian State Government. The director of the group was Michael Georgeff
who came from SRI, contributing his experience with the PRS
and vision in the domain of Intelligent agents. It was located in the Melbourne suburb of Carlton before moving to more spacious premises in the city centre of Melbourne
, Victoria
. At its peak it had more than 40 staff and took up two floors of an office building on the corner of Latrobe and Russell Streets.
In the late 1990s, the AAII spun out Agentis International (Agentis Business Solutions) to address the commercialization of the developed technology. Another company, Agent Oriented Software (AOS) was formed by a number of ex-AAII staff to pursue agent technology developing JACK Intelligent Agents
. After the AAII shutdown, those staff that remained and the intellectual property were transferred to Agentis International.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, the Australian Artificial Intelligence Institute (Australian AI Institute, AAII, or A2I2) was a government funded research and development laboratory for investigating and commercializing Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
, specifically Intelligent Software Agents
Intelligent agent
In artificial intelligence, an intelligent agent is an autonomous entity which observes through sensors and acts upon an environment using actuators and directs its activity towards achieving goals . Intelligent agents may also learn or use knowledge to achieve their goals...
.
History
The AAII was started in 1988 as an initiative by the Hawke governmentBob Hawke
Robert James Lee "Bob" Hawke AC GCL was the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia from March 1983 to December 1991 and therefore longest serving Australian Labor Party Prime Minister....
and closed in 1999. It was backed by support from the Computer Power Group, SRI International
SRI International
SRI International , founded as Stanford Research Institute, is one of the world's largest contract research institutes. Based in Menlo Park, California, the trustees of Stanford University established it in 1946 as a center of innovation to support economic development in the region. It was later...
and the Victorian State Government. The director of the group was Michael Georgeff
Michael Georgeff
Michael Peter Georgeff is a computer scientist and entrepreneur who has made contributions in the areas of Intelligent Software Agents and eHealth.- Overview :...
who came from SRI, contributing his experience with the PRS
Procedural Reasoning System
In Artificial Intelligence, the Procedural Reasoning System is a framework for constructing real-time reasoning systems that can perform complex tasks in dynamic environments...
and vision in the domain of Intelligent agents. It was located in the Melbourne suburb of Carlton before moving to more spacious premises in the city centre of Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
. At its peak it had more than 40 staff and took up two floors of an office building on the corner of Latrobe and Russell Streets.
In the late 1990s, the AAII spun out Agentis International (Agentis Business Solutions) to address the commercialization of the developed technology. Another company, Agent Oriented Software (AOS) was formed by a number of ex-AAII staff to pursue agent technology developing JACK Intelligent Agents
JACK Intelligent Agents
JACK Intelligent Agents or JACK is a framework in Java for multi-agent system development. JACK Intelligent Agents was built by Agent Oriented Software Pty. Ltd. and is a third generation agent platform building on the experiences of the Procedural Reasoning System and Distributed Multi-Agent...
. After the AAII shutdown, those staff that remained and the intellectual property were transferred to Agentis International.
Projects
This section summarizes a selection of the software and commercial projects that came out of the AAII:- Procedural Reasoning SystemProcedural Reasoning SystemIn Artificial Intelligence, the Procedural Reasoning System is a framework for constructing real-time reasoning systems that can perform complex tasks in dynamic environments...
(PRS) ongoing development and application of PRS in collaboration with SRI InternationalSRI InternationalSRI International , founded as Stanford Research Institute, is one of the world's largest contract research institutes. Based in Menlo Park, California, the trustees of Stanford University established it in 1946 as a center of innovation to support economic development in the region. It was later... - Distributed Multi-Agent Reasoning SystemDistributed Multi-Agent Reasoning SystemIn artificial intelligence, the Distributed Multi-Agent Reasoning System is a platform for intelligent software agents developed at the AAII that makes uses of the BDI software model. The design for dMARS is an extension of the intelligent agent cognitive architecture developed at SRI...
(dMARS) an agent-oriented development and implementation environment for building complex, distributed, time-critical systems. Developed as a C++C++C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...
extension to PRS. - Smart Whole AiR Mission Model (SWARMM) an agent-oriented simulation system developed by AAII in conjunction with and for the Air Operations Division (AOD) of the DSTODefence Science and Technology OrganisationThe Defence Science and Technology Organisation is a branch of the Australian Department of Defence which researches and develops technologies for use in the Australian defence industry....
. - Optimal Aircraft Sequencing using Intelligent Scheduling (OASIS) an air traffic management system written in the PRS that accurately estimated aircraft arrival time, determined an optima sequence for landings and alerted operators as to the actions required to achieve the sequence. A prototype was developed for Sydney AirportSydney AirportSydney Airport may refer to:* Sydney Airport, also known as Kingsford Smith International Airport, in Sydney, Australia* Sydney/J.A. Douglas McCurdy Airport, in Nova Scotia, Canada...
using dMARS called HORIZON. - Single Point of Contact (SPOC) was a system developed for OptusOptusSingTel Optus Pty Limited is the second largest telecommunications company in Australia, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore Telecommunications...
to assist customer service representatives to meet the objective to meet 98% of customer enquirers with a single point of contact with the company. The system was built using dMARS and involved a multilayer architecture.
Technical Notes
Over the course of its existence, the AAII released more than 75 of public technical notes http://web.archive.org/web/19990428115401/www.aaii.oz.au/research/techreports/tnlist.html. This section lists an available selection of these notes.- Anand S. Rao, Michael P. Georgeff Asymmetry Thesis and Side-Effect Problems in Linear-Time and Branching-Time Intention Logics, AAII Tech Note 13, 1991
- Anand S. Rao, Michael P. Georgeff, Modeling Rational Agents within a BDI-Architecture, AAII Tech Note 14, 1991
- Anand S. Rao, Michael P. Georgeff, Intelligent real-time network management, AAII Tech Note 15, 1991
- Michael P. Georgeff Situated Reasoning and Rational Behaviour, AAII Tech Report 21, 1991
- Anand S. Rao, Michael P. Georgeff, BDI Agents: From Theory to Practice AAII Tech Report 56, 1995
See also
- Distributed Multi-Agent Reasoning SystemDistributed Multi-Agent Reasoning SystemIn artificial intelligence, the Distributed Multi-Agent Reasoning System is a platform for intelligent software agents developed at the AAII that makes uses of the BDI software model. The design for dMARS is an extension of the intelligent agent cognitive architecture developed at SRI...
- Belief-Desire-Intention software model
- Procedural Reasoning SystemProcedural Reasoning SystemIn Artificial Intelligence, the Procedural Reasoning System is a framework for constructing real-time reasoning systems that can perform complex tasks in dynamic environments...