From Objects to Agents, and Back to Smart Objects: Software Agents for Intelligent Internet of Things (IoT) Systems

Daniel-Costel Bouleanu; Marco Loaiza; Claudio Savaglio; Costin Bădică; Raffaele Gravina; Giancarlo Fortino

doi:10.1007/978-3-032-22940-3_13

From Objects to Agents, and Back to Smart Objects: Software Agents for Intelligent Internet of Things (IoT) Systems

Daniel-Costel Bouleanu, Marco Loaiza, Claudio Savaglio, Costin Bădică, Raffaele Gravina, Giancarlo Fortino

Viviana Mascardi, Andrea Omicini (eds.)

The Agents Journey: Twenty-Five Years of Multi-agent Systems, chapter 13, pages 340–365

Lecture Notes in Computer Science (State-of-the-Art Survey) 16395

Springer Nature Switzerland

April 2026

The chapter delves into the Internet of Things (IoT) and Agent-based Computing (ABC) duo. From the first sensor networks to the current IoT systems (e.g. smart cities, smart factories, smart homes), the ABC has been widely exploited to make devices truly “smart objects” by providing them with different degrees of autonomy, cognitivity, sociality and proactiveness. With particular, though not exclusive, focus on contributions from Workshop on Objects and Agents (WOA), in the following, we discuss how the ABC enables the development of advanced IoT systems, from the design to the implementation and simulation phases. Then, we present application examples, technologies and IoT platforms that make use of agents and, finally, we discuss future directions of an “agentified” IoT in the light of the emerging computing continuum.

keywords Multi-agent systems, IoT, Smart-Objects, Intelligent Systems

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Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS)

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The Agents Journey (edited volume, 2026) — Viviana Mascardi, Andrea Omicini

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Preface (editorial/introduction/preface, 2026) — Viviana Mascardi, Andrea Omicini

Evolution of Programming Languages in Agent Systems and the Role of Computational Logic (book chapter, 2026) — Alina Vozna, Andrea Monaldini, Stefania Costantini, Giovanni De Gasperis, Pierangelo dell’Acqua, Andrea Formisano, Andrea Rafanelli

Looking for the Best Partners (book chapter, 2026) — Domenico Rosaci, Giuseppe M. L. Sarnè

Trust Evolution in Agent and Multi-agent Systems: A Computational Modeling Perspective (book chapter, 2026) — Alessandro Sapienza, Filippo Cantucci, Cristiano Castelfranchi, Rino Falcone

Interaction Protocols: From AUML to Social Commitments, from Artifacts to BSPL (book chapter, 2026) — Matteo Baldoni, Cristina Baroglio, Roberto Micalizio

Coordination of Software Agents: Models and Languages (book chapter, 2026) — Giacomo Cabri, Letizia Leonardi, Stefano Mariani, Franco Zambonelli

Self-organisation with Aggregate Computing: A Reflection Under the Lenses of Multi-agent Systems Engineering (book chapter, 2026) — Gianluca Aguzzi, Roberto Casadei, Danilo Pianini, Mirko Viroli

Rethinking Software Agents as Building Blocks of Software Systems (book chapter, 2026) — Federico Bergenti, Stefania Monica

Designing Agent-Oriented Systems (book chapter, 2026) — Massimo Cossentino, Luca Sabatucci, Valeria Seidita

Agent-Based Computing for Science and Engineering: Back to the Future and Beyond... (book chapter, 2026) — Alfredo Garro

Simulation and Agent-Based Simulation at WOA: 25 of Years of Simulation-Related Contributions, and an Outlook of What Awaits Us (book chapter, 2026) — Giuseppe Vizzari, Daniela Briola

25 Years of Declarative Agent Technologies in Italy (book chapter, 2026) — Davide Ancona, Daniela Briola, Angelo Ferrando, Maurizio Martelli, Viviana Mascardi

Intelligent Agents from Symbolic to Neurosymbolic Systems: The Quest for Integration (book chapter, 2026) — Andrea Agiollo, Roberta Calegari, Giovanni Ciatto, Matteo Magnini, Andrea Omicini, Federico Sabbatini

AI Infrastructure: From Gigastructure to Edge Intelligence with Multi-Agent Systems (book chapter, 2026) — Andrea Omicini, Alessandro Ricci, Viviana Mascardi

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