Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Agent Specific Attributes
Purpose
Domain of expertise
Robots
Nature of sensors and actuators
Mobility
Mobile
Physical
Physical or virtual
How domain is divided between agents
How agents negotiate and cooperate
Agents
Degree of cooperation
Degree of individual identity
Software
Agents
Immobots
Distributed
Sensors and Actuators
Fig. 1.5.
Agent attributes
be able to migrate from one system to another, and some software agents can
interact with other agents to cooperate on achieving common objectives.
Robots are mobile systems that pursue goals in the physical world. Robots
are outwardly focused, with the primary goals of measuring and interacting
with the external world using their sensors and actuators. Although the field
of robotics has been active for many years, cooperative robotics is a relatively
new area of investigation. A space-based robotics example would be the Mars
Sojourner whose expertise was collecting scientific information on Mars' sur-
face. This successful agent achieved its goals with constrained autonomy and
limited ability to cooperate. After Sojourner's top-level goals were downloaded
from earth, it would perform multiple steps to achieve the desired objective.
During task execution, it would continually monitor the situation and protect
itself from unexpected events.
Immobots are immobile robotic systems that manage a distributed net-
work of physical sensors and actuators. They are inwardly focused, with goals
to monitor and maintain the general health of the overall system. There is so
far only limited experience with immobots cooperating with other agents.
A modern factory floor would be an example of an immobot. Integrated
throughout the shop floor is a network of sensors that the immobot mon-
itors along with actuators that are used when some action is needed. If a
dangerous situation arises, the human operator must be notified and the
situation explained.
These examples are all quite different, but in each of them, some form of
computer-based agency is necessary for them to carry out their mission.
The types of sensors and actuators change from agent to agent. Software
agents usually sense and manipulate the computational environment by trans-
porting information. This information is a mixture of data to use or interpret
and commands to execute. Robots' and immobots' primary sensors measure
and sense the physical world and their actuators modify and interact with
