Skip to main content

A Dynamically Adjustable Autonomic Agent Framework

  • Conference paper
Advances in Information Systems and Technologies

Abstract

The design and development of autonomous software agents is still a challenging task and needs further investigation. Giving an agent the maximum autonomous capabilities may not necessarily produce satisfactory agent behavior. Consequently, adjustable autonomy has become the hallmark of autonomous systems development that influences an agent to exhibit satisfactory behavior. To perform such influences, however, a dynamic adjustment mechanism is needed to be configured. The influences are costly in time and implementation especially for systems with time-critical domain. They might negatively influence agent decisions and cause system disturbance. In this paper, we propose a framework to govern an agent autonomy adjustment and minimize system disturbance. The main components of the proposed framework are the Planner, Scheduler and Controller (PSC) that conform to the current trends in automated systems. Two modules are also suggested which are Autonomy Analysis Module (AAM) and Situation Awareness Module (SAM). They are accordingly used to distribute the autonomy and provide balance to the system so that it’s local and global desires do not conflict.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 259.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 329.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Ball, M., Callaghan, V.: Explorations of Autonomy: An Investigation of Adjustable Autonomy in Intelligent Environments. In: Eighth International Conference on Intelligent Environments, pp. 114–121. IEEE Press, Guanajuato (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Dorais, G., Bonasso, R.P., Kortenkamp, D., Pell, B., Schrekenghost, D.: Adjustable Autonomy for Human-centered Autonomous Systems on Mars. In: Proceedings of the AAAI Spring Symposium on Agents with Adjustable Autonomy, AAAI Technical Report SS-99-06. AAAI Press, Menlo Park (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Maes, P.: Artificial Life Meets Entertainment: Lifelike Autonomous Agents. Communications of the ACM 38(11), 108–114 (1995)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Wooldridge, M.: An Introduction to Multiagent System, 2nd edn. John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Ferguson, G., Allen, J., Miller, B.: TRAINS-95: Towards a mixed-initiative planning assistant. In: Proceedings of the Third Conference on Artificial Intelligence Planning Systems (AIPS 1996), Edinburgh, Scotland, pp. 70–77 (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Van der Vecht, B., Dignum, F., Meyer, J.-J.C., Neef, M.: A dynamic coordination mechanism using adjustable autonomy. In: Proc. COIN@MALLOW 2007, Durham, UK (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Scerri, P., Reed, N.: Designing agents for systems with adjustable autonomy. In: The IJCAI 2001 Workshop on Autonomy, Delegation, and Control: Interacting with Autonomous Agents (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Rogers, A., Ramchurn, S.D., Jennings, N.R.: Delivering the smart grid: Challenges for autonomous agents and multi-agent systems research. In: Twenty-Sixth AAAI Conferences on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI 2012), Toronto, CA, pp. 2166–2172 (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Bradshaw, J.M., Sierhuis, M., Acquisti, A., Feltovich, P., Hoffman, R., Jeffers, R., Prescott, D., Suri, N., Uszok, A., Van Hoof, R.: Adjustable Autonomy and Human-Agent Teamwork in Practice: An Interim Report on Space Applications. In: Hexmoor, H., Falcone, R., Castelfranchi, C. (eds.) Agent Autonomy, pp. 243–280. Kluwer (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Barber, K.S., Martin, C.E.: Agent Autonomy: Specification, Measurement, and Dynamic Adjustment. In: Proceedings of the Workshop on Autonomy Control Software, International Conference on Autonomous Agents, Seattle, WA (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Ferguson, G., Allen, J., Miller, B.: TRAINS-95: Towards a Mixed-initiative Planning Assistant. In: Proceedings of the Third Conference on Artificial Intelligence Planning Systems (AIPS 1996), Edinburgh, Scotland, pp. 70–77 (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Falcone, R., Castelfranchi, C.: From Automaticity to Autonomy: The Frontier of Artificial Agents. In: Hexmoor, H., Castelfranchi, C., Falcone, R. (eds.) Agent Autonomy, pp. 79–103. Kluwer, Dordrecht (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Braynov, S., Hexmoor, H.: Quantifying Autonomy. In: Hexmoor, H., Falcone, R. (eds.) Agent Autonomy, pp. 43–56. Kluwer (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Molineaux, M.: Design and Evaluation of a Goal-Directed Autonomous Agent. Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, AAAI (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Ashok, K.G.: Reflection in Action: Meta-Reasoning for Goal-Directed Autonomy. Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, AAAI (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  16. Muñoz-Avila, H., Aha, D.W., Jaidee, U., Klenk, M., Molineaux, M.: Applying Goal Driven Autonomy to a Team Shooter Game. In: Proceedings of the Twenty-Third International Florida Artificial Intelligence Research Society Conference (FLAIRS 2010). Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, AAAI (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Nau, D.S.: Current Trends in Automated Planning. AI Magazine 28(4), 43–58 (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Rao, A.S., Georgeff, M.P.: BDI-Agents: From Theory to Practice. In: First International Conference on Multi-Agents System (ICMAS 1995), San Francisco, USA (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Veres, S.M., Luo, J.: A Class of BDI Agent Architectures for Autonomous Control. In: 43rd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, CDC, pp. 4746–4751. IEEE Press, Paradise Islands (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  20. da Silva, M.R., Borges, A.P., Dordal, O.B., Sato, D.M.V., Avila, B.C., Enembreck, F., Scalabrin, E.E.: An Architecture of BDI Agent for Autonomous Locomotives Controller. In: Proceedings of the 2012 IEEE 16th International Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work in Design, pp. 2–29. IEEE Press (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  21. Thangarajah, J., Padgham, L., Winikoff, M.: Detecting and Avoiding Interference Between Goals in Intelligent Agents. In: Proceedings of the 18th International Joint Conference on Artificial intelligence (IJCAI 2003), pp. 721–726. Morgan Kaufmann Publishers Inc. (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Thangarajah, J., Harland, J., Morley, D., Yorke-Smith, N.: Aborting Tasks in BDI Agents. In: AAMAS 2007, Hawaii, USA (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  23. Myers, K.L., Morley, D.N.: Human Directability of Agents. In: K-CAP 2001. ACM 1-58113-380 (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  24. Brooks, R.A.: A Robust Layered Control System for a Mobile Robot. IEEE Journal of Robotics and Automation 2(1), 14–23 (1986)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Brooks, R.A.: Intelligence without Representation. Artificial Intelligence 47, 139–159 (1991)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Bonasso, R.P.: Using Adjustable Autonomy to Extend the Independence of the Elderly. Developing Assistive Technology for People with Disabilities. AAAI, Fall Symposium (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Schurr, N., Marecki, J., Tambe, T.: Improving Adjustable Autonomy Strategies for Time-Critical Domains. In: 8th International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS 2009). International Foundation for Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems, Budapest, Hungary, pp. 353–360 (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  28. Lili, Y., Rubo, Z., Hengwen, G.: Situation Reasoning for an Adjustable Autonomy System. International Journal of Intelligent Computing and Cybernetics 5(2), 226–238 (2012)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Salama A. Mostafa .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Mostafa, S.A., Ahmad, M.S., Annamalai, M., Ahmad, A., Gunasekaran, S.S. (2013). A Dynamically Adjustable Autonomic Agent Framework. In: Rocha, Á., Correia, A., Wilson, T., Stroetmann, K. (eds) Advances in Information Systems and Technologies. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 206. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-36981-0_58

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-36981-0_58

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-36980-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-36981-0

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics