com.agentfactory.cldc
Class Actuator

java.lang.Object
  com.agentfactory.cldc.logic.Action
      com.agentfactory.cldc.Actuator

Direct Known Subclasses:

AddAgentIDActuator, AdoptActuator, DeactivateRoleActuator, DualIDActuator, DualInform, DualMigrate, DualRequest, EnactRoleActuator, InformActuator, LocalNameActuator, LookupPlat, LookupWP, LookupYP, MigrateActuator, P2PInform, P2PRequest, PrintActuator, RegisterAgentActuator, RegYP, RequestActuator, ResourceActuator, RetractActuator, UniqueNameActuator, UpdateAIDActuator, UpdateNameActuator, UpdateServ, ValuesActuator

public abstract class Actuator
extends Action

In AFME, agents act on their enviroment through the use of Actions. Actuators extend the Action class. The Actuator class includes methods to enable agents to adopt and retract beliefs. It stores an Actuator's identifier or trigger, which is used within a commitment rule. It also contains a reference to the AffectManager, which is used to enable the Actuator to interact with modules and services.

Author:

Conor Muldoon

Constructor Summary

Actuator(AffectManager manager, java.lang.String id)
Constructs an actuator that enables an agent to interact with its environment

Method Summary

void	adoptBelief(FOS bel) Causes the agent to adopt the specified first order structure belief.
void	adoptBelief(java.lang.String string) Causes the agent to adopt the belief represented by the specified string.
void	register(java.util.Hashtable table) This method is called by the agent platform to register the actuator with the platform.
void	retractBelief(FOS bel) Causes the agent to drop the specified first order structure belief.

Methods inherited from class com.agentfactory.cldc.logic.Action

act

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

equals, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Constructor Detail

Actuator

public Actuator(AffectManager manager,
                java.lang.String id)

Constructs an actuator that enables an agent to interact with its environment

Parameters:

manager - the affect manager for the agent.

id - a string representation of the trigger for the actuator.

Method Detail

register

public void register(java.util.Hashtable table)

This method is called by the agent platform to register the actuator with the platform. The identifier specified in the constructor is used to identify the actuator when a particular action is required.

Parameters:

table - the hash table that the actuator is added to.

adoptBelief

public void adoptBelief(FOS bel)

Causes the agent to adopt the specified first order structure belief. This method differs from adoptBelief(FOS). The belief is not added to the belief set during the current cycle. The reason for this is that commitment execution is nondeterministic. That is, the order in which commitments are fired in the current cycle is irrelevant at a logical level and will not have a consequence on the resolution-based resaoning process for determining the desired states in the current cycle. Beliefs added using this method will only be added to the agents current belief set after all of the commitments in the current cycle have been executed.

Parameters:

bel - the belief to be adopted.

adoptBelief

public void adoptBelief(java.lang.String string)

Causes the agent to adopt the belief represented by the specified string.

Parameters:

string - the string representation of the belief to be adopted.

retractBelief

public void retractBelief(FOS bel)

Causes the agent to drop the specified first order structure belief. It operates in a similar manner to adoptBelief(FOS). The belief is not retracted until the current control process has finished determining the desired states. If the agent does not contain the specified belief, no error is thrown.

Parameters:

bel - the belief to be dropped.