A rich multi-agent architecture for collaborative multi-touch multi-user devices

The paper discusses the open multi-agent architecture of a system comprising a large multitouch multi-user graphics table, a large interactive board, and a number of peripheral devices including tablets, smartphones, or earphones, used for supporting collocated collaborative work. The system comprises several computers connected in a network, or through WiFi or Bluetooth interfaces. The system software is organized around two multi-agent platforms. The first one, JADE, written in Java is used to integrate agents directly into the toolkits which use Java. The second one, OMAS, written in Lisp is used to implement conversational intelligent agents. The paper discusses the role and the use of both platforms and how they are connected to work together. Although developed in a project addressing collaborative Preliminary Design, the system and its architecture can be used in any application composed of sequences of phases.