Applying Model-Based Techniques to the Development of UIs for Agent Systems

To counter difficulties of user interface (UI) development, model based techniques became firmly established over the last years. The basic idea of model based user interface development (MBUID) is to formally specify a UIs appearance and behaviour by means of several models. Especially for distributed multi-agent systems, the appliance of MBUID can be most promising. Agent applications involve many different execution platforms and heterogeneous devices and perfectly fit for Ambient Assisted Living landscapes due to their innate characteristics of distribution and autonomy. When it comes to agent systems, one always has to consider the fact that humans have to communicate with agents in the end. It is our opinion that most approaches neglect this fact and thus cut the dynamics and the capabilities of distributed multi-agent systems. Hence in this work, we present an approach for the development of UIs for software agents which applies model based techniques and also retains all degrees of freedom for the underlying multi-agent system.