A distributed multi-agent framework for intelligent environments

Biologically inspired models (BIM), i.e. complex models for organization and communication based on biological systems, consider the heterogeneous and dynamic nature to which entities must adapt. This makes such models appropriate for the design and implementation of smart home systems. The Gold Seekers Project, a BIM developed by one of the authors, has been used to study the mechanisms for realizing intelligence in natural and artificial systems. Two of the project components, Goal Mind and Alchemy, provide a framework in which to develop distributed multi-agent architectures. Goal Mind is used to define the application architecture, including agent structure and communications needs. Reasoning within the agents is multi-modal, with current support for rules, semantic networks, neural networks, and procedures. Alchemy provides the mechanism to distribute the system. We describe Goal Mind and Alchemy and the smart home application being created with these components.