Vidal College of Charleston Computer Science 66 George Street Charleston SC 29424 pbuhlercscofcedu University of South Carolina Computer Science and Engineering Columbia SC 29208 vidalscedu Abstract We introduce Biter a platform for the teaching and ID: 61691
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WhileallthesecharacteristicsmaketheRoboCupsimulatoragreatplatform,thereareseveralaspectswhichmakeitdicultforabeginnerresearchertouseproductively.1.Thereisalargeamountoflow-levelworkthatneedstobedonebeforestartingtodevelopcoordinationstrategies.Specically:(a)Anygoodplayerwillneedtoparsethesensorinputandcreateitsownworldmapwhichusesabsolutecoordinates.Thatis,theinputtheagentsreceivehastheobjectscoordinatesasrelativepolarcoordinatesfromtheplayer'scurrentposition.Whilerealistic,thesearehardtouseinthedenitionofbehaviors.Therefore,asophisticatedplayerwillneedtoturnthemintogloballyabsolutecoordinates.(b)Theplayersneedtoimplementseveralsophisticatedgeometricfunctionsthatanswersomebasicquestionslike:\WhoshouldIbeabletoseenow?".(c)Theplayersalsoneedtoimplementfunctionsthatdeterminetheargu-mentvaluesfortheircommands.Forexample:\HowhardshouldIkickthisballsothatitwillbeatcoordinatesx;ynexttime?".2.Itishardtokeepsynchronizedwiththesoccerserver'supdateloop.Specif-ically,theplayershavetomakesuretheysendoneandonlyoneactionforeachclock\tick".Sincethesoccerserverisrunningonadi erentmachine,theplayerhastomakesureitkeepssynchronizedanddoesnotmissactionopportunities,evenwhenmessagesarelost.3.TheagentsmusteitherbebuiltfromscratchorbyborrowingcodefromoneoftheexistingRoboCuptournamentteams.Theseteamsareimplementedforcompetition,nottobeusedaspedagogicaltools.Theircodeisoftencomplex,documentationscarceandtheycanbehardtodecipher.TheBitersystemaddresseseachoftheseissuesinane orttoprovideapow-erfulyetmalleableframeworkfortheresearchandstudyofmultiagentsystems.2TheBiterPlatformBiterprovidesitsuserswithananabsolute-coordinateworldmodel,asetoflow-levelballhandlingskills,asetofhigher-levelskillbasedbehaviors,andourGenericAgentArchitecture(GAA)whichformstheframeworkforagentdevelopment.Additionally,manyfunctionalutilitymethodsareprovidedwhichallowuserstofocusmoredirectlyonplanningactivities.BiteriswritteninJava2.Itssourcecode,JavadocAPI,andUMLdiagramsareavailableathttp://source.cse.sc.edu/~biter/.2.1Biter'sWorldModelIntheRoboCupdomainithasbecomeclearthatagentsneedtobuildaworldmodel[2].Thisworldmodelshouldcontainslotsforbothstaticanddynamicobjects.Staticobjectshaveaeldplacementthatdoesnotchangeduringthe Fig.1.Biter'sUMLclassdiagram.Weomitmanyoftheoperationsandat-tributesforbrevity.Italicclassnamesdenoteabstractclasses.