AF2.0

From Agent Factory

This page contains a summary of the key changes that have been made to this release of Agent Factory, and where relevant, will direct you to the other relevant parts of this website.

Run-Time Environment Changes

• The RTE has been completely rewritten and an interface driven approach has been adopted. As a result, deployment of agent platforms is now done through a Java Main class.

• Support for alternate agent scheduling algorithms has been introduced.

• A Factory Pattern has been applied to the creation of agent architectures removing the reliance on relfection and simplifying the introduction of alternate agent architectures.

AFAPL2 Changes

• Support for goals introduced via the GOAL operator. Goals can be adopted in a plan and take one of three forms: MAINTENANCE goals (goal is maintained even after it has been achieved); ACHIEVEMENT goals (plan pauses until the goal is acheieved); standard GOALS are adopted but the plan does not wait for them to be achieved.

Support API Changes

• A Range of basic Belief Managers has been developed to support the creation of mental agents. They are centred around three core components: BeliefStores (to hold facts), BeliefRuleStores (to hold rules), and TemporalBeliefStores (that implements support for the temporal beliefs employed by AFAPL2). Currently, supports exists for perception driven belief management, persistent beliefs, and the current AFAPL2 belief update model.