CS&E Profile: Maria Gini

Artificial Intelligence, Robotics

Doctor of Physics, 1972, University of Milan, Italy

Research

My area of research is artificial intelligence and robotics. I am interested in intelligent agents, in particular self-interested agents that achieve their tasks by engaging in negotiations with other agents, and robotic agents that operate in unstructured and partially known environments.

I am researching the design of software architectures that distribute intelligence among autonomous agents. An example is the University of Minnesota MAGNET (Multi-agent Negotiation Testbed) system, an agent-based system designed to support the negotiation and execution of complex plans among a population of self-interested agents. Applications include e-commerce, logistics, and supply-chain management.

I am also interested in making robots more useful by making them smaller but capable of interacting with other robots. To be useful, robots need to be able to accomplish their tasks despite unexpected changes in the environment or failures of some of their sensors. I am studying ways of distributing intelligence and of accomplishing tasks by cooperation. Specific examples of tasks include exploration, mapping of indoor/outdoor environments, and navigation. The ultimate expectation is that many small robots will be able to operate more robustly and be more cost effective than a few larger and more complex robots.