SPADES: A System for Parallel-Agent, Discrete-Event Simulation

Simulations are an excellent tool for studying AI. However, the simulation technology in use by, and designed for, the AI community often fails to take advantage of much of the work in the larger simulation community to produce stable, repeatable, and efficient simulations. I present SPADES (SYSTEM FOR PARALLEL-AGENT DISCRETE-EVENT SIMULATION) as a simulation substrate for the AI community. SPADES focuses on the agent as a fundamental simulation component. The "thinking time" of an agent is tracked and reflected in the results of the agents' actions. SPADES supports and manages the distribution of agents across machines while it is robust to variations in network performance and machine load. SPADES is not tied to any particular simulation and is a powerful new tool for creating simulations for the study of AI.