Technical Artificial IntelligenceGraduate School of Natural Sciences

This Master’s programme focuses on questions, techniques and systems for artificial intelligence from a computer science perspective. Technical Artificial Intelligence is of particular interest to students who wish to broaden their perspective and reach out to neighbouring fields such as philosophy, mathematics, economy, sociology, psychology, linguistics and law. This programme emphasises the logical and symbolical models involved in describing and implementing agents. Key topics are agent-oriented software engineering, the theory of agents and multi-agent systems, cognitive robotics, reasoning and learning.

MASTER’S PROGRAMME UTRECHT UNIVERSITY

Technical Artificial IntelligenceEver since Alan Turing published his famous article ‘Computing Machinery and Intelligence’ in 1950, the prospect of having computers do intelligent tasks for us has kept drawing researchers and practitioners to the fascinating field of Artificial Intelligence (AI). After enduring two periods of relatively low interest from industry and academia in the 1970s and late 1980s, since the late 1990s AI has been back on track and is now a central theme in computer science, partly through the use of an exciting new paradigm: multi-agent systems.

Multi-agent systems consist of software components, so-called agents, which are conceived as autonomous, goal-directed and knowledge-based. Agents are aware of the environment they are in and ‘aim to achieve their goals’ by operating strategically in that environment. The growing demand for sound theories and methods for developing multi-agent systems is not surprising. After all, computer systems have become increasingly complex, more distributed and less predictable, and a centralized approach to system control is no longer felt to be possible or desirable. Therefore system designers often have no choice but to hand over part of the control to software agents and thus give them more autonomy. However, there is also renewed interest in AI and multi-agent systems in new application areas. For instance, from the huge computer games and serious gaming industry there is growing demand for game characters that are endowed with more autonomy and ‘awareness’ of the situation they are in.

The Master’s programme in Technical Artificial Intelligence (TAI) teaches students to work in this exciting, constantly developing field. Furthermore, TAI is of increasing interest to computer science students who wish to broaden their perspective and reach out to other areas. TAI borrows ideas, theories and approaches from scientific fields such as philosophy, mathematics, economy, sociology, psychology, linguistics and law. Many research questions in Master’s theses arise from interaction with ideas in these areas.

Intelligent SystemsThe TAI Programme is offered by the Intelligent Systems group within the Utrecht Institute for ICT Research in close cooperation with the following three other research groups:

• Algorithmic Data Analysis• Decision Support Systems• Software Technology

Study programmeAn intelligent agent is an artificial - computer-based - entity that can act pro-actively, reactively, autonomously and rationally in a dynamic environment. Agents can reason about the situation they are in, plan their actions, revise their beliefs, learn, communicate and cooperate.

This Master’s programme emphasises the logical and symbolical models involved in describing and implementing agents. Key topics are agent-oriented software engineering, the theory of agents and multi-agent systems, cognitive robotics, common sense reasoning and adaptive behaviour. Several application areas are studied, including electronic business, soccer and rescue robots, virtual games, diagnosis of complex industrial systems, and legal and medical decision-making.

The two-year programme, which is worth 120 European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) points, consists of ten courses (worth 7.5 ECTS each) and culminates with an eight-month thesis research project (worth 45 ECTS).

Currently, the programme contains three thematic focus areas serving as guidelines for students to specialise themselves in a direction fitting their interests and future career perspectives.

Berend Kemperman recently graduated in Technical Artificial Intelligence and is now orienting towards his future career

“My thesis project is

starting to shed light on

the question how best to

apply Technical Artificial

Intelligence to interactive

games.”

“Technical Artificial Intelligence is all about ways of using intelligent agents to generate complex behaviour and thus manage complex systems. I chose this programme because I wanted to learn more about game technology and how AI techniques can be applied to creating more sophisticated behaviour for virtual characters. Games are a great test-bed for AI models.

In the programme I not only learned about theoretical models and philosophical questions related to Artificial Intelligence (AI) – I also did many interesting practical things like bringing an ancient Roman chess-like game back to life (Latrunculi) as well as getting an agent to autonomously learn to play this game competently, improving the performance of a quakebot, and programming robots to play tic-tac-toe. I also had the opportunity to work at TNO in The Hague, where I compared solutions for generating pedestrian and flocking behaviour. For my thesis project I worked on a system to improve the navigation behaviour of virtual characters, based on an integration of the 2APL platform with a game engine and the corridor path planning method. This project is starting to shed light on the question how best to apply AI to interactive games. Maybe someone will continue my research...” n

Agent TechnologyThis area focuses on logical and symbolical models of agents and multi-agent systems, with special attention for reasoning and communication. The student will learn how agents can reason about their beliefs, goals and desires, how they can plan and choose their actions and how they can effectively communicate with other agents.

AI TechniquesThis focus area integrates models of agent reasoning and interaction with probabilistic and sub-symbolic techniques for making agents learn and adapt to their environment.

Agent-Oriented Software EngineeringThe concept of an agent as an autonomous system, capable of interacting with other agents in order to satisfy its design objectives, is a natural one for software designers. This thematic area focuses on the notion of an autonomous agent as a new software engineering paradigm.

Thesis research projectsStudents spend eight months working on their final thesis, making this by far the most important element in the programme. The following list of successfully completed thesis projects gives an idea of the kind of projects conducted by students in the Technical Artificial Intelligence programme.

A 2APL travel agentThe problem approached in this thesis was programming an on-line travel agent in the intelligent system group’s own agent programming language 2APL. The agent learns the preferences of the user, searches on-line providers for hotels, flights, etc and presents its suggestions to the user.

Using emotions as heuristics in agent programmingThe 2APL agent programming language is still in development, and new features are added regularly. Several Master’s students have contributed to this development, either by using 2APL in an AI application developed for a company, or by thinking about and implementing new features. One assignment related to using theories of emotion to assist in the decision making of 2APL agents. Using emotions to guide agent decisions is promoted by an idea from psychology, which claims that computationally, emotions can be viewed as heuristics.

Coalition formation using argumentationAgents can do more together than individually. But deciding which coalitions to form to perform joint tasks depends on the situation, the capabilities of individual agents, their reliability, etc. The idea of using argumentation for this complex process is investigated; agents put forward the reasons, such as costs and benefits, for forming certain coalitions and decide on how to aggregate them into a joint decision on which coalition to form.

Programming a poker agentThe game of poker has recently attracted a lot of attention in the AI community. Two things that are crucial for playing a good game of poker are opponent modelling and strategy adaptation. The idea is to play against other programs in an international contest that will be held at the University of Alberta. Currently a student is working on a program that incorporates these mechanisms.

Building AI into a ship simulatorVSTEP is a Dutch company that is developing serious games for training and simulation. One of their products is a simulator which puts a user at the controls of a large ship in order to learn how to successfully manoeuvre in a harbour crowded with other ships and various obstacles. By building more AI into the other ships’ movements users should get the feeling that the other ships are controlled by captains making rational decisions.

Roel van Tiel graduated in Technical Artificial Intelligence in 2006 and now works as an ICT advisor

“The industry needs

people who are able to

solve IT problems using a

creative mindset.”

“In my thesis project I used Artificial Intelligence to programme virtual actors to behave as much like humans as possible. After graduating, I worked as a games programmer for a year and then as a consultant in a planning software company. Here I used software containing complex mathematical formulas to solve complicated planning projects. I’ve just started working as the right-hand man to the IT director in a semi-governmental organization, developing both tactical and long-term strategic initiatives.

As a graduate in this field, working with advanced techniques such as BDI, you develop a mindset that allows you to look at ICT problems in a totally new way. You’re also able to see how independent pieces of software can best be combined. The industry needs people who are able to solve IT problems using such a creative mindset, superseding the traditional approach. Traditional IT problem-solving hasn’t changed much in the last decade, so people equipped with the broad way of thinking students acquire in the Technical Artificial Intelligence programme will be much in demand.

Whether your target is the games industry, consultancy, or robot, network or software development, if you study Technical Artificial Intelligence now, you’ll be able to work in an international field alongside the best in the world.” n

Colophon September 2010. Published

by: Graduate School of Natural

Sciences, Utrecht University. Compiled

and produced by: Faculty of Science.

Photography: Pieter van Dorp van

Vliet. Design: Communication & Design,

Faculty of Science.

Although this brochure has been

compiled with the greatest care, no

rights may be derived from any of its

contents.

Further information

Master’s programme Technical Artifical Intelligence

• www.uu.nl/masters/tai (for Dutch students)• www.uu.nl/programmes/tai (for international students)

Entrance requirementsApplicants should possess:

• solid basic knowledge of computer science and logic• the ability to analyze and model computer science problems• the ability to communicate facts and findings verbally and in writing, also using

information and communication technology and audio-visual means.

Degrees in all probability meeting these requirements are:• a BSc with a major in Computer Science or Artificial Intelligence;• a BSc with a science major and (a) a minor in Computer Science or (b) a minor in Technical Artificial Intelligence or (c) a comparable use of the non-major part of the Bachelor programme• a HBO-diploma (HIO) or (Technical) Computer Science.

The programme allows using up to 15 ECTS (2 courses) to remedy deficiencies.Applicants should have a good command of English. For foreign/HBO students, several tests may be used to assess your level.

For application and admission see• www.uu.nl/masters (for Dutch students)• www.uu.nl/internationalmasters (for international students)

On these websites you can also find the application deadlines and the general requirements for the prospective Master’s students.

Utrecht Feel at Home Service To emphasise its international orientation, Utrecht University offers the unique Utrecht Feel at Home Service, guaranteeing housing for foreign visitors students and offering, for example, support for visa applications, amongst many other things. For detailed information, visit www.uu.nl/internationalmasters

Frequently Asked Questions• www.uu.nl/qdesk

Utrecht Institute for ICT Research• www.uu.nl/science > research > research institutes > Utrecht Institute for ICT

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