Fabrice Harrouet

An immune oriented multi-agent system for biological image processing

Abstract In this article, we present a parallel image processing system based on the concept of reactive agents. Our system lies in the oRis language, which allows to describe finely and simply the agents’ behaviors to detect image features. We also present a method of segmentation using a multi-agent system, and two biological applications made with oRis. The stopping of this multi-agent system is implemented through a technique issued from immunology: the apoptosis.

ARéVi: A Virtual Reality Multiagent Platform

AReVi (in French, Atelier de Realite Virtuelle) is a distributed virtual reality toolkit. Its kernel (a group of C++ classes) makes it possible to create cooperative and distributed virtual reality applications by minimizing the programming effort. AReVi is built around a dynamic multiagent language: oRis. At any time, this language allows to stop the ongoing session, to add new entities (known or not when starting the session), to modify an entity or an entire entity family behavior. More generally, oRis gives the user the ability to interact with the agents by directly using their language, thus offering a way of immersion through the language.

Designing a Multicore and Multiprocessor Individual-Based Simulation Engine

This article describes the design of an individual-based simulation engine that can harness the full potential of modern general-purpose multicore and multiprocessor computers. This design aims to enable interactive simulations of highly dynamic multiagent systems in which entities can move, change, appear, disappear, and interact with one another and the user at any time.

Agent Metamodel for Virtual Reality Applications

The various existing agent models do not cover all the possible uses we consider for virtual reality applications. In this paper, we present an agent metamodel (Behave) based on an environment metamodel (Veha). This metamodel allows defining agents and organizing teams of agents in a virtual environment. The use of this metamodel is illustrated by the Gaspar application which simulates activities on an aircraft carrier.

An interactive agent-based learning environment for children

This paper presents an educational distributed virtual reality-based environment for children called EVE-Environnement Virtuel pour Enfants. EVE is used in elementary schools from different countries as a supplementary tool in teaching children to read. This virtual environment supports cooperation among members of a dispersed team engaged in a shared context. By the mean of their avatars, which are special cases of agents, children are allowed to interact and to give decisions using cooperative mechanisms. The virtual environment architecture is reactive agent-based. The FCM-like dynamic action planning mechanism assures the agents adaptability to its environmental changes. It also allows the pedagogical agent to adapt its behaviour to the childs actions. The implementation is based on a client-server architecture, VRML and C++ as languages and AReVi as graphical rendering API.

Prototyping Manufacturing Systems. Contribution of Virtual Reality, Agents and Petri Nets

Abstract The necessity of low-cost and rapid prototyping tools is often arisen in the field of manufacturing system design. This work showed that virtual reality, combined with multi-agent systems was a very efficient method to perform such a prototype. Virtual reality offered an easy to understand representation of the future system and a powerful reactivity from end-users. Because Agent paradigm enforced local point of view, modularity and re-usability could be achieved. Applied on the KorSo case study, this method led to a fully distributed architecture without any centralized controller. Agent-orientness was also a very structuring approach, specially because behaviors were modeled by Petri nets