Special Topics in Media Technology: Cooperative Machines
This MIT OpenCourseWare course looks at what it takes to build machines that cooperate with humans and with each other. It covers philosophical, scientific, and theoretical perspectives on cooperation, then examines how those ideas show up in natural systems like animal groups and in artificial ones like software agents and robots. Topics include game-theoretic models of cooperation, trust and communication between agents, and design principles for multi-agent and human-robot systems. Materials include the course syllabus, readings drawn from cognitive science, biology, and computer science, and assignments exploring cooperative behavior in simulated or real systems. The course is aimed at advanced students already familiar with computational and theoretical approaches to intelligent systems. As with other MIT OCW offerings, all materials are free to use and are released under a Creative Commons license, with no certificate offered.