Simulation Testbed for Sensible Agent-based Systems in Dynamic and Uncertain Environments

摘要

Agent-based technologies offer many benefits for automated problem solving. The need for responsive, flexible agents is pervasive in many application domains, including manufacturing, due to the complex, dynamic nature of the problems encountered. The ability to adapt organizational roles to various problem-solving situations during system operation is a critical issue addressed by research on Sensible Agents that are capable of Dynamic Adaptive Autonomy (DAA). DAA allows Sensible Agents to change autonomy levels during system operation to meet the needs of a particular problem-solving situation. The representation of these flexible problem-solving frameworks is facilitated by the Intended Goals Structure (IGS), which represents goals that agents intend to achieve. In addition a Perspective Model, based on Extended State Charts (ESC), is used to model domain environments. This paper provides an overview of the Sensible agent Testbed, which is implemented in a CORBA-based distributed computing environment. An example scenario demonstrates how this testbed can be used to simulate agent-based problem solving in manufacturing environments.