This is the presentation introducing the 6th eCAS workshop on Engineering Collective Adaptive Systems. It recaps its scope, provides data regarding this edition, provides an overview of the program and related initiatives.

1. 6th eCAS Workshop on
Engineering Collective Adaptive Systems
Introduction to the workshop
Roberto Casadei1
, Lukas Esterle2
1
ALMA MATER STUDIORUM–Università di Bologna, Cesena, Italy
2
Aarhus University, Denmark
October 1, 2021
Co-located with ACSOS 2021
http://ecas2021.apice.unibo.it/

2. Welcome to the eCAS workshop!
The workshop on engineering collective adaptive systems (CAS)
goal: foster discussion and collaboration within the community of researchers on CASs
(and related fields: CPSs, IoT, MAS, CCI...)
R.C., L.E. 1/7

3. On collective adaptive systems (1/2)
Motivation
fact: collectives are everywhere
pervasive/ubiquitous computing → more and more devices
autonomic computing → management complexity demands autonomy
then: emphasis shift from individual to collective behaviour
ú opportunities & challenges
What is a CAS?
system: a collection of interacting entities
adaptive: the system adapts to handle new situations
collective: the collection consists of (a large and possibly dynamic number of) members
kept together by some purpose or cause
∠ often congeneric (of related nature—e.g., agent-like)
∠ scale & reliability demand decentralisation
o various definitions and assumptions (on communication, agency, etc.)
R.C., L.E. 2/7

4. On collective adaptive systems (2/2)
From understanding to engineering
CASs have been observed in nature and social contexts
∠ cf. insect societies; human markets
Engineering draws inspiration from nature but also comes with new concepts, methods,
and techniques
∠ Key problem: how to build collective adaptive behaviour by designing individuals (behaviours,
interactions, structural connections)?
R.C., L.E. 3/7

5. eCAS 2021: data
6th edition!
12 submissions (+4 wrt 2020 edition; best result after eCAS’17)
∠ 11 full papers
∠ 1 position paper
geography of authors
∠ Germany: 14
∠ USA: 9
∠ Italy: 8
∠ UK: 3
∠ Belgium: 2
∠ Switzerland: 1
30 reviews (≈ 3 per paper)
R.C., L.E. 4/7

6. Special issue on Mobile Cyber-Physical Collectives W
eCAS authors and attendees are encouraged to contribute to the Frontiers Research
Topic on Mobile Cyber-Physical Collectives
∠ Essentially, a special issue on eCAS topics in the Robotics and AI journal (Scimago rank Q2)
∠ Editors: Roberto Casadei, Lukas Esterle, Paul Harvey, Rose Gamble, Elizabeth Wanner
∠ Abstract deadline: 26 November 2021
∠ Manuscript deadline: 25 February 2022
See the eCAS website & SI website for more information
R.C., L.E. 5/7

7. eCAS 2021: program
SESSION 1 - on principles for the design of CASs (session chair: Lukas Esterle) ≈ 1h
1) Christian Kröher, Klaus Schmid, Simon Paasche and Christian Sauer. Combining Central
Control with Collective Adaptive Systems
2) Giorgio Audrito, Roberto Casadei and Gianluca Torta. Fostering resilient execution of
multi-agent plans through self-organisation
3) Sebastian Schmid, Daniel Schraudner and Andreas Harth. Performance Comparison of
Simple Reflex Agents Using Stigmergy with Model-Based Agents in Self-Organizing
Transportation
SESSION 2 - on formal design of CASs (session chair: Roberto Casadei) ≈ 1h
1) Hunza Zainab, Giorgio Audrito, Soura Dasgupta and Jacob Beal. Effect of Monotonic
Filtering on Graph Collection Dynamics
2) Joseph Hirsch, Martin Neumayer, Hella Ponsar, Oliver Kosak and Wolfgang Reif. Distributed
Constraint Optimization for Task Allocation in Self-Adaptive Manufacturing Systems
3) Ian Riley and Rose Gamble. Employing Stochastic Multiplayer Games to Support
Self-Organization over Ad Hoc Networks
DINNER (LUNCH) BREAK: 19:00 – 20:00 CEST (13:00 – 14:00 EST)
SESSION 3 - approaches to CAS design (session chair: Giorgio Audrito) ≈ 1h20m
1) Gianluca Aguzzi, Roberto Casadei, Danilo Pianini, Guido Salvaneschi and Mirko Viroli. Towards
Pulverised Architectures for Collective Adaptive Systems through Multi-tier Programming
2) Emad Eldeen Elakehal and Joost Vennekens. A Logic-based Multiagent Product
Configuration Model
3) Paul Akiki, Andrea Zisman and Amel Bennaceur. Work With What You’ve Got: An Approach
for Resource-driven Adaptation
4) Daniel Palmer, Ryan Houghtaling, Marc Kirschenbaum and Morgan Might. Interactive
Methodology to Iteratively Add Functionality to Swarm Programs
discussion on CAS research directions + workshop closing ≤ 1h30m
∠ aspects raised during discussions
∠ meta-reflections on CASs as a research field
∠ mobile cyber-physical CASs
R.C., L.E. 6/7

8. Warm-up
Talks: 15’ presentation + 5’ Q&A
In the next 5 minutes (or next breaks), introduce yourself on the #workshop-ecas Slack
channel in the ACSOS-2021 space
∠ Mention what specific aspects of CASs your research focusses on (e.g., principles, optimisation,
programming, design, algorithms, specific case studies...) or interest you the most
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