Multi-agent Systems as Intelligent Virtual Environments

Intelligent agent systems have been the subject of intensive research over the past few years; they comprise one of the most promising computing approaches ever, able to address issues that require abstract modelling and higher level reasoning. Virtual environments, on the other hand, offer the ideal means to produce simulations of the real world for purposes of entertainment, education, and others. The merging of these two fields seems to have a lot to offer to both research and applications, if progress is made on a co-ordinated manner and towards standardization. This paper is a presentation of VITAL, an intelligent multi-agent system able to support general-purpose intelligent virtual environment applications.