FIPA applications types

Rev. 2.0

FIPA’s goal is to identify, select, augment and develop specifications of generic agent technologies which are usable across a large number of applications and to provide a high level of interoperability amongst applications.

The following examples of application areas of agent technology represent a first attempt at collating input made available by the participants at FIPA’s New York meeting (24-26 June 1996) and members of the FIPA application group. This does not preclude having new application areas.

 An ad-hoc group has been established in Yorktown to refine this document until the Tokyo meeting (Oct. 96). The document will contain a final list of applications in which participants of FIPA will be interested in applying agent technology and focus their efforts in FIPA activities in 1997.

It is expected to produce by the next FIPA meeting (Oct. 96) a final list of applications in which participants of FIPA will be interested in applying agent technology and focus their efforts in FIPA activities in 1997.


· User Assistant Applications

These systems are those that work with, and in the interests of, an end-user in order to enhance their productivity and to ease the use of complex computer-based systems. More commonly they communicate with users to help with managing diaries and emails, memory assistance, etc. They may communicate with other agents (e.g., media agents) for information gathering. They are differentiated from standard user interfaces, in that they are empowered to act at least semi-autonomously, and are not merely tools that the user uses and controls.

• User profile learning systems
• Multimodal interface systems
• Personal Digital Assistant or Personal Intelligent Communicator applications (e.g., digital telephone secretary)
  

· Information Retrieval Applications

These systems involve all the services needed to help the users in finding easily and quickly the information they request. This can be achieved for example by a society of agents.

• Directory services (yellow and white pages)
• Data Base enquiry
• Information Brokerage
• Media indexing
  

· Entertainment Applications

These are systems which involve :

• real-time and non-real-time (store and forward) user avatars for messaging, low-bit-rate communication, and shared virtual environments
• games (autonomous interaction between game characters and with environment & multi-player games)
• gaming and avatar applications deployed in theme parks, arcades, kiosks, WWW, and high-end game machines
• film/video production : I) camera agents (film/video cameras with automatic motion, focus, reactions, etc.), II) 3D graphical agents for storyboard design, III) 3D graphical agents and avatars in computer animated feature films, cartoons & advertisement
  

· Service Management Applications

These are systems that involve configuration and delivery of user requested services at the right time, cost, and QoS , while observing the required security and privacy issues.

• Multimedia services
• Buy/selling services (e.g. information, material goods)
• TMN/ intelligent network management services
• Trip planning and guidance services (e.g. intermodal route planning, hotel and parking-lot reservations, indvidualised traffic guidance, tourism)
  

· Business Management Applications

These systems deal with management of business tasks and resources in provision of services and carrying out business operations.

• Financial services
• Electronic commerce
• Workflow management
• Office automation
• Computer Supported Cooperative Work
• Telecommuting
  

· Manufacturing Management Applications

These systems involve physically embodied agents designed to carry out and deal with management of tasks and processes in relatively structured industrial environments. These processes may involve the control of industrial robots and machines via software interfaces.

• · Industrial Robotics
• · Factory automation
• · Virtual factory management
• · Load Balancing
  

· Service Robotics Applications

These systems involve physically embodied agents designed to carry out tasks and processes in relatively unstructured office and domestic environments. (E.g. office mail delivery, house cleaning, etc.)


· Cooperative Tasks Management Applications

These systems involve collection of robotics and software agents that are being coordinated to achieve higher level tasks


· Research Applications

These systems involve using agent technology to further research in other (IT) areas

• · Vision processing
• · Learning and adaptive systems
• · Speech processing
• · Distributed knowledge-based systems
• · Human-Computer Interface

Compiled by :

Nader Azarmi (BT)
Alain Leger (CCETT)
Donald Steiner (Siemens)