Autonomous Agents in Collaborative Virtual Environments

Dr. Stefan Noll Christian Paul Ralph Peters Norbert Schiffner Fraunhofer-Institute for Computer Graphics Rundeturmstrae 6 D-64283 Darmstadt, Germany +49 6151 155 209 {noll, paul, peters, schiffne }@igd.fhg.de
ABSTRACT

Our world is now entering an age where the current understanding of telecommunications and graphics computing will be constantly challenged. The universal advancement of graphics technology, new business models, and the continuing upgrade of global infrastructure are transforming the solitary, platformcentric 3D computing model. With the availability of global information highways intercontinental collaboration using 3D graphics will become part of our daily work routine. The research efforts have been concentrated on determining how the distributed workplace can be transformed into a shared virtual environment. Interaction among people and processes in this virtual world has to be provided and improved. To enhance the usability and functionality of our collaborative virtual environment we integrated software agents into it. These agents support the user as well as the designer and the interaction with objects in the virtual world. In this paper, we describe the basic needs for combining agents and virtual worlds as well as techniques to enhance VR environments.
Keywords

In this paper, we introduce the use of agents in combination with virtual realities as a future communication system. By doing so, two major fields of Computer Science are tied together: agents, which stem from the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and 3D-VR systems as part of Computer Graphics. The main goal is to enhance usability and realism of virtual environments by combining 3D objects with intelligent agents, and to explore new aspects evolving from this combination. As a basis for our work introduced here, we use our collaborative virtual workspace. Using this framework we built the Virtual Emergency Task Force (VETAF) and Virtual Showroom scenarios [4]. Concepts of software agents, their usability and employment in virtual environments, exemplary implementations of agents, our scenarios, and related developments are explained in this article. In a virtual reality, objects and avatars are connected to agents, which reflect a behavior to other agents and users. Agents act autonomously and improve interaction between objects. The following short description of the applied agent technology gives an introduction into this topic.
2. SOFTWARE AGENTS

Collaborative virtual workspace, cooperation, software agents, integration, usability, architecture.

1. INTRODUCTION

The combination of 3D graphics, spatial audio, object interaction, and haptic feedback in a distributed virtual environment constitute a multidimensional form of telecommunication. This framework addresses the three main perception senses of human beings simultaneously. These advanced forms of telecommunication make it possible to transform workplaces into collaborative virtual workspaces (CVW). Scenarios can be tailored to the particular needs of an application or user. Possible applications range from simple distributed multimedia visualizations of scientific data in standard 3D data formats to distributed VR environments for teleconferences and simulators [1], which demand advanced computer technology.

Software agents are most relevant and applicable for the use in real-world domains. Their intelligent behavior enables them to automate and delegate cognitive tasks that were not feasible for machines in the past. Agents support each user individually during a session. They act as a representative of their 'employer' in the task they are assigned to. Several dimensions can classify agent technology: their mobility, whether they are deliberative or reactive, their appearance, and their roles. Three major attributes may describe the behavior of software agents in general (for a more complete definition of the term agent please refer to [Fehler! Verweisquelle konnte nicht gefunden werden.] and [9]): Autonomy: The ability to take initiative on what the agent believes is in the users interest. It fulfills its tasks

based on internal states, rules, and goals, and does not need any guidance by a human. Cooperation: The agent is able to engage in complex communication with other agents to obtain information or help of others. The agent society cooperates to accomplish their owners goals. Learning: In order to be smart, agents have to adapt to their environment. They need to learn how to react or interact with the system, users, and other agents.

elements of GUI computing. Instead, they'll play the role of helpful assistants or guides. Proponents think avatars are tailor-made for the growing virtual communities of online services and networks. Avatars are an important metaphor in CVWs: users can determine whom they are sharing the information with and in which particular object the other person is interested. Positions can express if users are following the discussion and whether they are looking at the same object. They express if users want to talk to somebody or if they are moving tirelessly and nervously around. Appearances of avatars show the status of participants in the world: they can express a user's rank in a group, show if users are present at work as well as show the individual taste of a user. Realism in participant representation involves two elements: believable appearance and the capability of movement. This becomes ever more important in a CVW, since the participants' positions are used for communication. As an example: The distance between avatars controls the volume of the participants' audio. The participants local environments store the whole scene description and use their own avatars to move around the scene. Rendering takes place from their own viewpoints. This avatar concept in CVW has crucial functions in multi-user virtual environments: Perception (see if anyone is around) Localization (see where the other person is) Identification (recognize the other person) Visitation of other person's interest focus (see where the persons attention is directed to)

One major issue of agent technology is cooperation between agents. Independent, heterogeneous agents therefore need a flexible possibility to communicate with each other in order to adapt to their environment. This communication facility has to fulfill two major tasks: on the one hand, various kinds of information must be transported reliably, on the other hand, the content of every message has to be understandable by every agent. However, the agent does not have to be able to interpret the object included in the message. Agent Communication Languages (ACL) solve these problems by using communication objects with a specified structure. ACL messages are well defined and can be processed without necessarily knowing about the embedded object of a message (content). The most common ACL is the Knowledge Query and Manipulation Language (KQML). KQML is an agent communication language developed by the ARPA supported Knowledge Sharing Effort [2]. It is a message format and message handling protocol to support runtime knowledge sharing among agents. It provides high level access to information and serves for low level communication tasks such as automatic error checking.
3. AVATARS & AGENTS IN WORKSPACES

The main issue addressed by virtual environments refers to social and workspace awareness in CVWs. Avatars address this problem by representing users in virtual environments. Agents can enhance usability, convenience, and realism when the virtual human is present in the collaborative virtual workspace.
3.1. Avatars in CVWs

Avatars are controversial creatures on the cutting edge of user interface designs. They provide new ways for people to interact with their computers and with other users on a network. The driving force behind avatars is the ongoing search for an interface that's easier and more comfortable to use, especially for the millions of people who are noncomputer experts. The earliest computer users were engineers and programmers who were fairly comfortable with command-line prompts. Today, most users are professionals who are fairly comfortable with graphical desktops. But a metaphor based on files and folders means nothing to a five-year-old, and the abstractions of menus and icons are difficult for even some adults to grasp. Avatars won't necessarily replace menus, icons, and other

Using abstract virtual figures for avatar representation (Figure 1) fulfils these functions. Our avatar uses a live video stream and a business card identifying the user it represents. The video screen indicates the direction in which the user is currently looking. Each user is assigned a unique colour; ears and feet of the avatar as well as the selection pointer are all in this colour. To point to an interesting position or perform an action the user can use a distributed pointer, located on top of the avatar. In a collaborative virtual environment, the system has to know which objects are in a scene, how to represent them, and where they move in case they are not static. Any communication between objects, no matter if they are under control of a user or the underlying program, is difficult to predict and also difficult to implement as they should fit in different scenarios. One possibility to solve the problem is the use of agents. Each object or object group in the virtual collaborative environment is connected with its agent (Figure 2). Agents act according to their

functionality and are able to enhance interaction between objects and the virtual environment.

Administration: Every action and event concerning the object is dispatched and then, given certain premises, distributed or reacted on by the agent. Modification: The user has the possibility to change the graphical representation of objects (and avatars) in form and color. Every object controls these attributes itself. The agent is responsible to keep modifications consistent. All new appearances are broadcasted via the multicast network. Control: The object itself has no information about its inner state except of appearance; the agent has full control over its functionality and position in the environment being responsible for moving around, contacting other agents or users, perceiving the environment, and gathering useful information (in the sense of fulfilling a certain task). Erasure: Similar to creation, the agent deletes its graphical representations in all environments and the underlying functionality.

While developing agents for multi-user environments, the following problems were encountered and had to be coped with depending on the particular type of application and agent: One or many underlying agents for the objects: The programmer has to evaluate if it is applicable to use one agent for all object instances, or if it is more useful to provide an underlying agent for every occurrence of the graphical representation. For example, guides in the environment (see below) should have their own underlying agent but share one information agent. This agent is responsible to provide information about the environment because it is useful to have one database about all rooms and participants taking part in the scenario. Handling objects: Cloning and multiplication of objects in virtual environments can lead to inconsistencies. The underlying agents have to keep track of these user actions and should be able to replicate themselves (in case every object is controlled by its own agent), or adapt to the new instance of the generated graphical object and provide the functionality controlling it. Mobile agents: If the graphical object is attached to a mobile agent, its functionality is accessible by one user at a time. Scheduling of many requests of using the object has to be controlled and dealt with by the agent. For example, if you implement the guide agents as mobile agents, you might have to contact a receptionist and ask for assistance. The receptionist will contact the mobile guide agents and request information about availability. (For more information about mobile agents see [9].)

Figure 1: Avatar

Avatars, the graphical representations of participants, are also objects. Therefore, agents can act on a higher abstraction level, like human assistants. This includes repetitive tasks (for example finding a way through the scenario and locating a room within it), remembering certain facts, which the user forgot, and recapitulating complex sequences in an intelligent way (who is in a room and which action is she or he performing at the moment). Intelligent agents can learn and even make suggestions to the user.
3.2. Agent-Object Pairs in CVWs

While evaluating the integration of agents into collaborative virtual workspaces, several fundamental functions and tasks have been identified. The central idea is building Agent-Object pairs: Every graphical object in the virtual environment that represents a certain universal service owns an underlying agent. The following actions are regarded as essential functions for these pairs: Creation: When a new object is brought into the scene, the agent creates the graphical representation and distributes the necessary data to every participant of the environment.

The possibilities of using agent technology to assist the user, populate the environment, and add functionality to virtual environments are numerous. In the following, we describe the integration of agents into virtual environments and explain the use of guides in the scenario.
4. INTEGRATING AGENTS INTO CVWs

In the previous chapters we described software agents in general and the theoretical conditions for the integration of agents into VCWs. This chapter explains how we put our thoughts into practice.
InformationAgent Agent CVWAgent GuideCVW CVW CVW

necessary for the other side, and translating these messages appropriately. For example, when a position message on the multicast net is recognized by the CVWAgent to be relevant for an agent, it translates this message to KQML and sends it to the relevant agent using the agent network. Figure 3 displays the central position of the CVWAgent.

CVWGUI CVW Core Agent Agents ASAP

Multicast Net
Agent

Agent Net

Figure 3: The Role of the CVWAgent

DoorAgent CVWAgent UserAgent

Agent Communication

Multicast

Figure 2: CVW and Agent Setup

Figure 2 shows the general setup, which is split into two parts: the multicast net and the agent net. The multicast net (solid ring) consists of a multicast backbone (MBone, which is explained in the 'Application' Chapter). It connects the CVWs and is the basis for transmitting continuous audio and video feeds as well as all changes that occur in the virtual environments (i.e. who is present, how does the avatar look like, what is the current position of every participant). The agent net (striped lines) interconnects all agents by using the communication facilities of ASAP. This partition into two independent nets results from the different needs for communication and scalability uses. While agents rely on a secure submission of their messages, video and audio feeds do not have such requirements; they need high-speed connections to allow real-time transmissions. Agents come to full effect when they form agent societies, consisting of a large number of agents acting in and therefore supporting a comparably small number of virtual environments. So-called CVWAgents link the two subnets together. They accept messages from either side and enable the agents to control objects in the environments, as well as transferring user inputs from the CVWs to the corresponding agents. The CVWAgents have a twofold functionality: on the one side, they are participants of the workspace by sending and receiving multicast messages. On the other, they are agents being able to understand KQML messages. Their main task is to listen on both nets, filter all information

Another example is the interaction between a user and the agent society: Using the avatar's graphical user interface (GUI), the participant issues a message requesting a special service. Assuming that a button was pressed, the CVW core will issue a message containing this event on the multicast net. The CVWAgent converts this message to KQML and sends it to the appropriate agent using ASAP and its agent network (for more information on ASAP, please refer to Chapter 5.1.) This initiates the execution of the desired service.
An Example: The GuideAgent

To show the usability of agents in virtual environments, we built a set of agents: DoorAgents restrict access to rooms and seek for identification or payment, and UserAgents provide information about their employers, handle access codes and payments whenever they are entitled to [7]. This chapter considers the GuideAgent. Its main task is to walk around the environment and provide information about objects, participants and the environment. The guide fulfills all properties of the above mentioned agent-object pair: it has its own distinct representation by the use of a special avatar and an underlying agent to control this graphical representation. The GuideAgent does not only send out position messages to move its avatar around the scenario but also manages an area of interest. If another participant appears within this area, the GuideAgent identifies him and offers help. If the user refuses this offer, the guide will move on. If help is needed, the guide suggests many different services: Navigation aid: Especially novices usually have difficulties in using the different moving modes (i.e. walk and fly) to move their avatar. The guide can therefore provide a lesson of how to navigate through the environment.

Giving a tour: As virtual environments usually consist of many rooms and places, the guide can supply a tour and explain the most important features. The GuideAgent therefore contacts an InformationAgent, which has all relevant sites, their position within the environment and the relating facts in its database. The user has the possibility of following the guide on his own as well as choosing the option that the guide drives the user's graphical representation. The tour can be quit at any time. Information about participants: Participants have the possibility to be additionally represented by UserAgents. These agents have more information about their owner, for example real and company name, real world location, and interests. The GuideAgent keeps track of visitors to the workspace and offers the possibility to get a directory of participants and their current position in the environment. The users can get the information about other participants through contacting the guide which asks the individual UserAgent about their employer to receive the desired facts.

5.

APPLICATIONS

The integration of agents into collaborative virtual environments provides an interesting field of research in computer science. This chapter describes the two underlying applications, which were put together by the development of agents (see Chapter 4).
5.1. ASAP

To simplify our work we use A Simple Agent Platform (ASAP) to build our agents. ASAP provides agent templates to enable the programmer to develop software agents easily. During runtime agents use the capabilities of ASAP: A facilitator, being part of the agent society itself, offers information about services of other agents. Different conditioners inform agents about system dependent events or changes in the state of the computer. Integrated networking allows communication over different kinds of networks. ASAP is an agent platform developed by the International Computer Science Institute (ICSI) and FraunhoferInstitute for Computer Graphics (FhG-IGD) and is written entirely in the Java language. ASAP is a framework, which helps to develop new agents in an easy and uncomplicated way by providing agent templates. The execution of these new agents takes place in ASAP's runtime environment. The user gets a convenient way to keep track about all agent actions as this environment provides a graphical user interface (GUI).

Another strength of the GuideAgent is its capability to model the user's behavior and preferences. This refers to keeping track of preferred means of interaction as well as recognizing when help is needed. Interaction modes are multiple. The field of applications is very wide: not only static information about objects can be administrated, but also dynamic and constantly changing situations (for example people participating in the environment) can be handled. An example application for the first scenario is the purpose of a guide agent in a virtual museum: it knows all the information and facts about the displayed pieces of art and recognizes objects of higher interest on its own when the user stays longer or requests more information about a certain exhibit. These preferred objects are incorporated in the user profile and the guide can adjust its route accordingly. An example for the dynamic situation is a company: When you wait for a visitor to contact you, you are bound to your desk, which means you can not prepare the next demo or gather all other persons involved in a meeting. Instead an agent can be responsible to guide the visitor from the receptionist to the meeting room to save time. If more people are involved, then this comes to full effect as the agents take over the task of scheduling as well as gathering and guiding people to a certain place. The convenient ways of sharing information are essential among agents and, at the same time, the major advantage of using them instead of fixed pieces of software. Not only the introduction of new agent types and services is easier, but their cleverness and adaptability offer new means of using agent technology in virtual worlds to enhance usability and comfort.

Local Agent 3 Local Agent 2 Agent Controller

Conditioner
Ext. Command

Facilitator

Network
Conn. Type A Conn. Type B Conn. Type M
Other ASAP Core Modules

Local Agent 1
Message Handler 1 Message Handler 2 Message Handler n Event Handlers

Events

Agent Name Service

ASAP Core Module

Figure 4: Overview of all components in ASAP

All components of ASAP communicate among each other through the use of events. This process is based on a general broadcast of all messages and events to ensure that all other agents are notified. Figure 4 shows the general overview of all components in ASAP.

The ASAP Core Module represents one agent society. The Agent Controller is the runtime environment providing the general user interface to monitor the local agents. In addition, the controller offers the possibilities to access system resources. Conditioners alert an agent when a specified event occurs (for example a time event in the case of a scheduling agent), or give information about system resources (e.g. disc space, system load). External Commands provide the interface to non-agent programs, which then can be used by the agent or its user. To contact other agent societies, no matter if they are other ASAP Core Modules or a third-party platform, ASAP uses the idea of integrated networking. Different types of Connections are responsible for a reliable message transmission. Networks in this case are standard telephone lines, ISDN connections, ATM links, and the TCP/IPbased Internet. Due to the open structure of ASAP new Connection Types can easily be implemented and used upon request. During runtime, the Network object autonomously chooses one available connection type to contact other agents. Agents know each other only by their name, not by address. The Agent Name Service converts identification strings (names) to physical addresses, which reflect the actual network identifier (e.g. address, port).
5.2. Virtual Emergency Task Force and Virtual Showroom

Figure 5 Virtual Showroom

All participants can talk to each other with full duplex spatial sound. A chat facility makes it possible to connect to other participants on low bandwidth networks.
Technical Realization

The VCE environment can be separated into three major components: the main VCE (internal communication) application, the agent platform, and the multimedia delivery platform. We use the MBone tools for audio and video communication. The main VCE application is realized with WorldToolKit, a portable, cross-platform software development system for building high-performance, real-time, integrated 3D applications. VCE renders the virtual environment and handles the input/output devices (e.g. space mouse, monitor, shutter glasses). Any transformation or movement of entities in the environment is sent as protocol-data-unit (PDU) packets to every other participant. Communication between multiple participants is based on the IP multicast protocol. The spatial audio server, developed at Fraunhofer IGD in Darmstadt, is based on a client-server architecture. Different audio sources (e.g. Internet phone, Mediaplayer) can be related to objects in the virtual scene. These audio sources are connected as clients to the audio server, which renders these audio signals depending on the position and orientation of each source in the virtual scene. The VETAF application transmits this position and orientation data via a socket connection to the audio-server.
5.3. Other Agents and Future Work

In the VETAF scenario, a group of experts located throughout the world meets to discuss a global crisis in a virtual environment. It is specially designed to support their cooperation, whereas the Virtual Showroom is mainly intended to demonstrate how virtual environments can be used in advertising and presentation. In the scenario, the setting is a virtual room with a 3Dmodel of the object of interest suspended in the middle of the room (Figure 5). The 3D-model in the virtual environment has different levels of detail and it can be edited. The possibility to replace it is provided by loading other objects into the scene (supported formats include VRML, 3DS, NFF). The environments are enabled to map additional data onto the walls. Projection of static data (e.g. blueprints and diagrams) and video-recordings are practicable. Video streams are broadcasted into the virtual environment by other participants or rescue teams on location in the case of VETAF. Displaying standard Microsoft Windows applications (PowerPoint, Word) or distributed whiteboards is also being put into practice.

The main task during the development of agents for VR applications is the exploration of new forms of interaction with objects and persons in virtual environments like CVW. This environment shows how 3D graphics can be used in conference systems in a way that the visitor of the conference does not have to miss convenient usability and accustomed surroundings. In the continuing work the following types of objects will be evaluated: Before it comes to interaction, the GuideAgent has to get in touch with the visitors. The agent will be equipped

with different triggers which lead it to recognize a needy user: if someone gets lost, people tend to stand still, turn around themselves to get an overview, or run around the scenario without any destination. The GuideAgent has to recognize this multitude of different situations and offer help. At the same time, the agent has to consider previous experiences with the individual user in order to distinguish between situations when help is needed and when not. The agent must not bother the visitors and get on their nerves by constantly asking if they request help but at the same time should always be around in case a question arises. The users themselves will be able to contact the guide by either approaching it directly, contacting a service point or wait for the agent to recognize the "help situation". Simple objects like walls, which receive an additional functionality by projecting information and by providing a user interface to web browsers and other common applications, are considered. The underlying agent controls the application and ensures the correct service is delivered. One example is an advanced search capability by contacting other agents in combination with common search engines. Another example is the possibility to display advertisements, which reflect the users preferences. The AdvertAgent therefore contacts the UserAgent and presents special offers depending on the user's interests. In the first implementation step, a DoorAgent controlling access to virtual rooms has been developed (see [7] for more information). It is planned to enhance this agent by applying a keyhole metaphor. In addition, the ability to push messages through beneath a door is considered. By using this function, a visitor of the environment does not have to enter a charge room himself in order to contact somebody. The most interesting research task concerns general objects which can be brought into the environment. Those so-called black boxes are universal tools, which get a functionality and behavior by external programs. The main problem here is the generality of the objects. It is intended to make them as universal as possible by specifying a general purpose API to develop the possibility for everybody to build agent-object pairs using ASAP and integrate these pairs into a virtual environment.

collaborative environment (CVE) without and with the aid of guide agents.
6.1. CVE without Agents

When people enter a virtual world, they usually dont know who is present and what to do in the scenario. This is the main point, which was criticized. Participants demand the implementation of a help desk or a receptionist. They want maps about the building to see which rooms may be interesting, where people with the same interests gather, and to show them a way for orientation purposes. To help them with navigation, it is useful to have maps at every junction or central point. Signposts need to be present as well. It is important for the users to have the possibility to get information at all times, as it is the case with directories displayed on walls. Another point of interest is timetables, so that people can check where their meeting takes place at which time. It should also give an overview about the participants with the possibility to get more information about them on demand. Interaction with other persons is also requested. This is not only for social purposes but also an additional way of getting information. People had difficulties with large worlds, as there is no possibility to travel large distances at a short time. The scenario lacks teleporters, which transport the participants from one point to a desired destination in no time. (Several persons mentioned the lacking of this feature individually.) Over all, people tended to a setting very close to reality, where sales personal, guides, receptionists, elevators, and maps are common and helpful.
6.2. CVE with Agents

After integrating agents into our collaborative virtual worlds, people are much more satisfied concerning usability and navigation. They like the constant availability of a guide agent and its way of interacting. They emphasize that it is very important for the agent to be polite and to answer reliably. The hierarchical arrangement of information and therefore fast access to a wanted fact is very important. The navigation help of the new agent was highly welcomed. As described in Chapter 4, the agent offers the possibility to guide the user to a person or room in the scenario. People liked the possibility to leave this guidance at any time on their own whenever something interesting appears on their way, and to continue later on. Probands welcome the implementation of the tour feature, providing detailed information about the setting. But there are still problems to be solved: First, the agent has to adapt on users and their behavior in case they need help. Currently, some users are annoyed when the guide repeatedly asks them if they request aid. Second,

Other possible object-agent classes include cashiers, hostesses, reporters, and librarians. New agent concepts of secure transmission of personal data and intelligence by neural networks have to be evaluated. Cloning of objects and agents is another interesting field of our research.
6. EVALUATION

The evaluation was performed by asking 12 computer natives and developers about the usability of the virtual

interaction with buttons is not enough. People requested a more natural inaction possibility like speech recognition. Third, the functionality of the guide agent should be extended. Users lack the possibility to send short notices to other participants through the use of the guide. Currently, there is no possibility for one user to tell another that he/she is coming to a meeting point and that the other person is supposed to wait there. The tours and tutorials also have to be designed more complex in order to provide more information and offer more possibilities to the user. Forth, the teleporter function as an alternative to the regular tour has to be implemented.
7. RELATED WORK

SIGGRAPH 97 in Los Angeles, ACM 97 in San Jose, and the G7 Meeting in Bonn). By integrating both these research projects, this work creates a framework for extending objects in virtual cooperative environments by high level behaviors. Using the resulting system, different agent behaviors and their utility to the users can be evaluated. Experiments with the already implemented agents VRDoorAgent and VRDeputyAgent showed a significant simplification of the tasks and increased usability for the user. These improvements were made possible by the combination of current work in two important areas of Computer Science.
REFERENCES

In the Virtual Polis project (Carnegie Mellon University of Pittsburgh, PA, USA), agents are used to popularize the simulated world with people and animals. The main point of interest is a simulation of behavior close to reality [8]. At the University of Southern California virtual realities are used to visualize air combat simulations [5]. Every helicopter and plane is linked to an agent, which controls the correct execution of the individuals mission. Team coordination between agents, and recognition and correction of occurring errors are the main aims in this project. The schematic visualization is used to control and monitor the resulting activities of agents.
8. CONCLUSION

1. Brutzman, D. Graphics Internetworking: Bottlenecks and Breakthroughs. Digital Illusions, C. Dodsworth, ed., Addison Wesley, Reading, Mass., 1996. 2. Finin, T., Fitzson, R., McKay, D., and McEntire. R. KQML as Agent Communication Language. ACM Press, November 1994. 3. Gilbert, D., and Janca, P. IBM Intelligent Agents. IBM Corporation, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA. 1996. 4. Grff, A., Fiebig, T., Schiffner, N., Cross, R., and Macedonia, M. Virtual Emergency Task Force, VETAF 2047. Computer Graphics TOPICS, 1/97. 5. Kaminka, G.A., and Tambe, M. Social Comparison for Failure Detection and Recovery. Preproceedings of the 4th International Workshop on Agent Theories, Architectures, and Languages (ATAL97), Providence, RI, USA. 1997. 6. Paul, C., Spriestersbach, A., Peters, R. Intelligente Agenten fr virtuelle Umgebungen (German version only). Proceedings of the Workshop on Agents, Assistants, Avatars (AAA), Darmstadt, Germany, October 1997 7. Peters, R.; Graeff, A.; Paul, C.: Integrating Agents into Virtual Worlds. In Proceedings of the International Workshop on New paradigms in Information Visualization and Manipulation. Las Vegas, NV, November 1997. 8. SIMLAB. Virtual Polis. Technical Report of the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon University, 1996, http://demios.rec.ri.cmu.edu/ files/ polis/ index.html 9. White, J. Mobile Agents White Paper. General Magic, 1996, http://www.genmagic.com/ agents/ Whitepaper/ whitepaper.html 10. Wooldridge, M.J., and Jennings, N.R. Intelligent Agents: Theory and Practice. The Knowledge Engineering Review 10 (2). 1995

Fraunhofer IGD is focusing its research efforts on determining how collaborative virtual environments can help transform the workplace into a shared environment, allowing real-time interaction between people regardless of their physical location. Current research includes work on a general architecture for applications in collaborative virtual environments. This architecture supports current applications as well as research in the areas of distributed simulation, agents in virtual environments, and networking for large-scale virtual environments. Especially agents play a significant role in the maintenance and processing of large amounts of data. The importance of this technology will extend across many different application domains. The ongoing work explores the application of agents in virtual worlds. The problem domain includes both simple tasks, such as management of projection walls, as well as complex processes, such as path planning and controlled access to resources. All of these tasks can be managed, simplified and made accessible to the user by the use of agents. In this article we introduced the integration of collaborative virtual environments and intelligent agents to enhance the usability of 3D user interfaces. At the present time, stable prototypes of the virtual environment system VCE and the agent platform ASAP exist. The scenario VETAF was demonstrated at several trade shows (e.g.