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In this paper we present the Smart Manufacturing And Reconfigurable Technologies (SMART) demonstrator, an example of an integrated environment for the Evolvable Assembly Systems project, which demonstrates the application of adaptive agent control to transform a static legacy manufacturing system into a reconfigurable manufacturing system capable of addressing the 'batch-size-of-one' problem.

The macro-level properties of a system may emerge from the micro-level behaviour of individuals in the system. There have been numerous suggestions for the addition of meso-level structures as a way to guide this emergence towards desirable outcomes or away from undesirable ones. However, it can be observed that the interaction of the micro and meso levels may cause unexpected properties to arise at all levels of the system. This paper investigates the interleaving of a self-adaptive micro level with a self-organising meso level to explain the macro-level system properties that may occur. A simulation-based test bench is used to perform experiments examining various compositions of adaptive mechanisms at the micro and meso levels of a multi-agent system. The results of these experiments are then analysed using a proposed formalism for multi-level adaptive systems to explain the observed interactions.

The Game of Nomic was developed to investigate the idea that any modifiable rule-based system could result in situations where the ruleset is paradoxical, contradictory or incomplete. This has interesting and important implications for designers of open, self-organising, rule-based systems, if our concern is to ensure that the system should operate within a 'corridor' of behavior, or should avoid certain non-normative states. To investigate this issue, this paper presents the preliminary design, implementation and operation of a self-organising multi-agent system in which the agents play the Game of Nomic. While not yet in a position to test Suber's hypothesis fully, we can see how different agent strategies can reason, reflect, and make decisions that benefit their internal objectives relative to the game itself, by using an awareness of themselves, other players, the ruleset and the projected outcome of proposed rule modifications.

We propose to manage consensus formation in open, decentralised and resource-constrained systems like vehicular networks using self-organising electronic institutions. This requires the institution members (agents) to maintain institutional facts in the face of inadvertent failure, non-compliant behaviour, and environmental change. To do this, we extend and adapt the well-known Paxos algorithm, for fault-tolerant consensus in distributed databases, to the IPCon algorithm, for robust collective-choice in electronic institutions. We address issues of developing an executable specification of IPCon and provide an empirical validation of its correctness that complements a previously-presented formal proof of the theoretical properties.

Despite all the technological advances in the automotive industry and the high instrumentation of road infrastructures, driving a vehicle is still a stressful and polluting operation. In order to achieve a more sustainable use of vehicles, in this paper we propose a three-layered (micro-meso-macro) framework that provides intelligence at different levels of detail of the driving experience. At the micro level, intelligence is provided to the individual vehicle, at the meso level, intelligence is concerned with local clusters of vehicles and group decision making, and at the macro level, intelligence is provided so that system-wide goals are achieved. We illustrate each of these levels with a particular implementation, although alternative implementations may be used as well. Namely, we use an affective anticipatory architecture for the micro level, a consensus algorithm at the meso level, and a resource allocation mechanism together with electronic institutions for the macro level. We believe that the combination of intelligences at each of the levels may lead to a more efficient and sustainable use of the vehicles and the infrastructure.

“Don't tell me about the labour pains, show me the baby” - a phrase which can be attributed to a lot of the speculation about the future role of technology in the exhibition market. As with all advances in technology, there are still many bridges to cross and issues that have a fundamental impact on the speed at which change can occur. At the end of the day only the market allows profitable change to happen. The market will be looking for ‘better quality and more value‘. For success, these criteria will need to be met. The paper takes a look at a range of issues that must be taken into consideration and the likely impact on cinema today and into the future.