The University of Southampton

ORCHID contends for TechWorld University Excellence title

Published: 14 November 2011
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Researchers from the ORCHID project will present their work on the use of computerised agents for home energy management and disaster responses this week at TechWorld, the UK's leading technology event.

A team led by Professor Nick Jennings and Dr Alex Rogers of ECS-Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton has been invited to present a poster at TechWorld (16-17 November) which focuses this year on Energy & Environment + Digital Connected World.

The poster - 'Human-Agent Collectives: From Foundations to Applications', focuses on the ORCHID researchers' work on the new science of human-agent collectives, which is exploring how computerised agents can interact with humans. The poster is a contender for the TechWorld University Excellence competition prize, which will be announced on Thursday (17 November).

"Working with computerised agents presents a number of challenges," said Professor Jennings, ORCHID Director. "One aspect is looking at the balance between humans that decide everything and software that decides everything. Another is looking at how agents fulfil tasks and disband when they are complete, and we are also looking at how agents can be encouraged to act in ways that generate socially desirable outcomes."

ORCHID is approaching these challenges by blending expertise in statistical information processing and multi-agent systems with human-agent interaction.

The five-year project, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) with significant funding from its industrial partners, has applications in future energy systems, disaster management, and defence and security industries.

The project brings together over 60 researchers from a range of disciplines at the Universities of Southampton, Oxford and Nottingham, together with industrial partners at BAE Systems, PRI Ltd and the Australian Centre for Field Robotics (ACFR).

For further information about this news story contact Joyce Lewis; tel.+44(0)23 8059 5453.

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