Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
ev
1
ev
2
agent's mind
m
ev
3
I
q
s
X
ev
4
m
environment
Fig. 3.4
General functional schema of an agent based on the concept of the M-agent architecture
Informal scenario, being the first approximation of the agent's activity (based on
the concept of the M-agent architecture) is as follows (Fig.
3.4
):
•
The agent observes its surrounding environment
and builds its (abstract) model
m
in its “mind”, taking into consideration certain (significant from its point of
view) elements and features (accepting a certain established level of abstraction).
For this purpose the operation of observation
I
is used (or maybe the operation of
observation and “imagination”). The model
m
in accordance with the needs and
the type of the agent may be simple or very complicated, it may also take into
account the agent itself or its elements within a certain range.
v
•
The agent anticipates what kind of changes in the environment will be caused by the
realization of its particular strategy
s
(one of the available strategies of the agent).
For this purpose, the agent performs an analysis of carrying out the strategy
s
on
the model
m
and creates the model
m
which corresponds to anticipated changes in
the environment. These changes arise as a result of the realization of the strategy
s
.
•
The agent evaluateswhether anticipated changes in the environment are compatible
with its intended goals comparing the models
m
and
m
with the use of the function
(evaluation of the realization) of the aim
q
. Analyzing the results of the application
of different strategies
s
, an agent may choose the one which, while being realised,
brings the most advantageous changes in the environment (from the point of view
of goals of a given agent).
•
The best (in the sense described above) strategy
s
, chosen on the basis of the
evaluation of the models
m
and
m
with the use of the function
q
, is realized by the
agent in the environment with the use of the operation
X
. The realization of the
strategy
s
results in the new, changed environment:
v
=
. The realization
of a strategy may take place through calling (performing) an appropriate event or
the series of events in the environment (e.g., the event
e
X
(
s
,v)
v
3
,Fig.
3.4
).
