Developing a virtual trade fair using an agent-oriented approach

Abstract

Online virtual trade fairs are becoming a popular way of establishing economic trade relationships nowadays. In the current context of the world economy, new ways of creating virtual environments where suppliers can show their products to potential customers are increasingly in demand. Some people can be found in this kind of scenario representing a role such as, for example, the administrator, the customers or the suppliers. The interaction between them is one of the most important characteristics of these commercial environments. Taking all these concepts into account, this article presents a 3D virtual trade fair that has been defined using an agent-oriented approach. This approach makes it possible to model, understand and implement the virtual economic environment, where interaction is the norm. Moreover, it makes it easy to add new components and meet new requirements in order to develop an open architecture that continuously changes and evolves. In this virtual trade fair, the chosen methodology has been Gaia, widely used for agent-oriented analysis and design of multi-agent systems.