A rational agent derives its choice of action from its beliefs and goals. Goals can be distinguished into achievement goals and maintenance goals. The aim of this paper is to define a mechanism which ensures the satisfaction of maintenance goals. We argue that such a mechanism requires the agent to look ahead, in order to make sure that the execution of actions does not lead to a violation of a maintenance goal. That is, maintenance goals may constrain the agent in choosing its actions. We propose a formal semantics of maintenance goals based on the notion of lookahead, and analyze the semantics by proving some properties. Additionally, we discuss the issue of achievement goal revision, in case the maintenance goals are so restrictive that all courses of action for satisfying achievement goals will lead to a violation of maintenance goals.
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