Multi-agent smart environments

Research in pervasive computing and ambient intelligence has catapulted smart environments to the forefront of many research labs. While tremendous strides have been made toward realizing the dream of designing environments that act as intelligent agents, the size of the problem creates issues that still need to be addressed by researchers. One such issue is the role of multi-agent systems in smart environments. In this article we discuss the role of multi-agent research in the context of smart environments and survey current research in the area. In addition, we pose several challenges to be tackled in this dynamic and complex area of research.