Control of Autonomous Agents is a catch all phrase for the crafting of agent minds (control structures) which are situated in, act on, and react to a possibly dynamic environment. These environments can be in cyber-space, the real world, or some combination. The term agent is widely used and definitions are abound, we prefer the following: "An Autonomous Agent is situated within and is a part of an environment, senses that environment and acts on it, over time, in pursuit of its own agenda so as to effect what it senses in the future.”
The approach we have taken is to partition the class into an agent tutorial given by Dr. Stan Franklin, author of Artificial Minds, followed by daily presentations of independent research done by the students at their own discretion. This format ensures an eclectic and vibrant mix of ideas, which include topics that span strong AI techniques such as Soar, fringe techniques such as Meta-heuristics, and new wave techniques such as Multi-agent Systems.
We have provided the presentation media used during this research to help guide the reader to topics that may be interesting and hope that you spend some time wading thru the presentations and weblinks we have provided. After that, stop and take a look at the infamous group that "dared to take this class".
Cheers!