Sharing weather data autonomously using Fetch.ai — Part 1
For agents to conduct economic activity on our behalf, they must be able to negotiate with each other. In order to do this, they must first find each other.
Fetch.ai enables agents to search and discover each other, as well as to communicate, via the Open Economic Framework (OEF). The OEF acts as a decentralized search and discovery mechanism for agents. Agents register their information (e.g. the services they offer) on the OEF and can search for the information, services, or other agents they seek. Agents communicate with each other via a peer-to-peer network which is also part of the OEF. This enables agents to send messages to each other to establish, for instance, the terms of a potential trade. They do so via a negotiation protocol.
Take this example. Charlotte is in Cambridge and wants to know what the weather is like in London as she is travelling to meet her friends there soon. At present, she could use one of a number of mobile apps to learn about the weather, before also using several other apps to find out information such as the quickest way to travel to London, possible places to park if she drives and potential restaurants that her friends will like nearby. By using Fetch.ai’s network, Charlotte doesn’t need to rely on numerous apps on her phone anymore. Instead, her agent can provide the answers to all of her questions by finding the information autonomously — saving Charlotte from having to search across various apps or websites manually.
To discover what the weather is like in London by using Fetch.ai, Charlotte’s agent searches for an agent that could provide this information. Meanwhile, agents in London are continuously advertising their services on the OEF. This enables Charlotte’s agent to discover and connect instantly with an agent representing data collected by a weather station in the capital. The two agents would then begin to negotiate the price the weather station agent would receive from Charlotte’s agent in return for the data. If the weather station sets the price too high, Charlotte’s agent will end the negotiation and find another agent that offers information about the weather in London at a better price.
In the next part of this series, we’ll discuss how our unique smart ledger enables transactions between autonomous agents to occur successfully and securely.
Get Involved
- If you’re a developer, find out more about Fetch.ai’s Autonomous Economic Agents by checking out the documentation section of our website, which includes some demos.
- Watch videos outlining our technology and follow our tutorials on YouTube.
- Join our Developer Slack Channel and explore our growing GitHub repository.
- If you’re not a developer, stay up to date with our progress by joining us on Telegram or follow us on Twitter.
