Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

International Workshop on Programming Multi-Agent Systems

ProMAS 2010: Programming Multi-Agent Systems pp 41–59Cite as

Towards Reasoning with Partial Goal Satisfaction in Intelligent Agents

  • Conference paper

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 6599))

Abstract

A model of agency that supposes goals are either achieved fully or not achieved at all can be a poor approximation of scenarios arising from the real world. In real domains of application, goals are achieved over time. At any point, a goal has reached a certain level of satisfaction, from nothing to full (completely achieved). This paper presents an abstract framework that can be taken as a basis for representing partial goal satisfaction in an intelligent agent. The richer representation enables agents to reason about partial satisfaction of the goals they are pursuing or that they are considering. In contrast to prior work on partial satisfaction in the agents literature which investigates partiality from a logical perspective, we propose a higher-level framework based on metric functions that represent, among other things, the progress that has been made towards achieving a goal. We present an example to illustrate the kinds of reasoning enabled on the basis of our framework for partial goal satisfaction.

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

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   69.99
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

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Bratman, M.E., Israel, D.J., Pollack, M.E.: Plans and resource-bounded practical reasoning. Computational Intelligence 14, 349–355 (1988)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Braubach, L., Pokahr, A.: Representing Long-Term and Interest BDI Goals. In: Braubach, L., Briot, J.-P., Thangarajah, J. (eds.) ProMAS 2009. LNCS, vol. 5919, pp. 201–218. Springer, Heidelberg (2010)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  3. Clement, B.J., Durfee, E.H., Barrett, A.C.: Abstract reasoning for planning and coordination. JAIR 28, 453–515 (2007)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  4. Dastani, M.: 2APL: A practical agent programming language. JAAMAS 16(3), 214–248 (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Do, M.B., Benton, J., van den Briel, M., Kambhampati, S.: Planning with goal utility dependencies. In: Proc. of IJCAI 2007 (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Feltovich, P.J., Bradshaw, J.M., Clancey, W.J., Johnson, M., Bunch, L.: Progress Appraisal as a Challenging Element of Coordination in Human and Machine Joint Activity. In: Artikis, A., O’Hare, G.M.P., Stathis, K., Vouros, G.A. (eds.) ESAW 2007. LNCS (LNAI), vol. 4995, pp. 124–141. Springer, Heidelberg (2008)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  7. Grosz, B.J., Hunsberger, L.: The dynamics of intention in collaborative activity. Cognitive Systems Research 7(2-3), 259–272 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Grosz, B.J., Kraus, S.: Collaborative plans for complex group action. Artificial Intelligence 86(2), 269–357 (1996)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  9. Haddawy, P., Hanks, S.: Representations for decision theoretic planning: Utility functions for deadline goals. In: Proc. of KR 1992 (1992)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Hindriks, K.V.: Programming rational agents in GOAL. In: Multi-Agent Programming: Languages, Tools and Applications. Springer, Berlin (2009)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  11. Hindriks, K.V., Jonker, C.M., Pasman, W.: Exploring Heuristic Action Selection in Agent Programming. In: Hindriks, K.V., Pokahr, A., Sardina, S. (eds.) ProMAS 2008. LNCS, vol. 5442, pp. 24–39. Springer, Heidelberg (2009)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  12. Hindriks, K.V., van der Hoek, W., van Riemsdijk, M.B.: Agent programming with temporally extended goals. In: Proc. of AAMAS 2009 (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Holton, R.: Partial belief, partial intention. Mind 117, 27–58 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Hu, Y.: Temporally-expressive planning as constraint satisfaction problems. In: Proc. of ICAPS 2007 (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Huang, Z., Bell, J.: Dynamic goal hierarchies. In: Proc. of the 1997 AAAI Spring Symp. on Qualitative Preferences in Deliberation and Practical Reasoning (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  16. Kamali, K., Fan, X., Yen, J.: Towards a theory for multiparty proactive communication in agent teams. Intl. J. of Cooperative Info. Systems 16(2) (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Kamar, E., Gal, Y., Grosz, B.J.: Incorporating helpful behavior into collaborative planning. In: Proc. of AAMAS 2009 (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Khan, S.M., Lespérance, Y.: A logical framework for prioritized goal change. In: Proc. of AAMAS 2010 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Klein, G., Woods, D.D., Bradshaw, J.M., Hoffman, R.R., Feltovich, P.J.: Ten challenges for making automation a “team player” in joint human-agent activity. IEEE Intelligent Systems 19(6), 91–95 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Lesser, V., et al.: Evolution of the GPGP/TAEMS Domain-Independent Coordination Framework. JAAMAS 9(1), 87–143 (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  21. Morley, D., Myers, K.L., Yorke-Smith, N.: Continuous refinement of agent resource estimates. In: Proc. of AAMAS 2006 (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Nebel, B., Koehler, J.: Plan reuse versus plan generation: A theoretical and empirical analysis. Artificial Intelligence 76(1-2), 427–454 (1995)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Rao, A.S., Georgeff, M.P.: Modeling agents within a BDI-architecture. In: Proc. of KR 1991 (1991)

    Google Scholar 

  24. Reiter, R.: The projection problem in the situation calculus. In: Proc. of AIPS 1992 (1992)

    Google Scholar 

  25. Schut, M., Wooldridge, M., Parsons, S.: The theory and practice of intention reconsideration. JETAI 16(4), 261–293 (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Shapiro, S., Brewka, G.: Dynamic interactions between goals and beliefs. In: Proc. of IJCAI 2007 (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Shapiro, S., Lespérance, Y., Levesque, H.J.: Goal change. In: Proc. of IJCAI 2005 (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  28. Shaw, P.H., Farwer, B., Bordini, R.H.: Theoretical and experimental results on the goal-plan tree problem. In: Proc. of AAMAS 2008 (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  29. Singh, M.P.: A critical examination of use Cohen-Levesque theory of intentions. In: Proc. of ECAI 1992 (1992)

    Google Scholar 

  30. Smith, D.E.: Choosing objectives in over-subscription planning. In: Proc. of ICAPS 2004 (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  31. Thangarajah, J., Harland, J., Morley, D.N., Yorke-Smith, N.: Suspending and resuming tasks in BDI agents. In: Proc. of AAMAS 2008 (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  32. Thangarajah, J., Winikoff, M., Padgham, L., Fischer, K.: Avoiding resource conflicts in intelligent agents. In: Proc. of ECAI 2002 (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  33. van der Hoek, W., Jamroga, W., Wooldridge, M.: Towards a theory of intention revision. Synthese 155(2), 265–290 (2007)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  34. van Riemsdijk, M.B., Dastani, M., Winikoff, M.: Goals in agent systems: A unifying framework. In: Proc. of AAMAS 2008 (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  35. Winikoff, M., Padgham, L., Harland, J., Thangarajah, J.: Declarative and procedural goals in intelligent agent systems. In: Proc. of KR 2002 (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  36. Zhou, Y., Chen, X.: Partial implication semantics for desirable propositions. In: Proc. of KR 2004 (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  37. Zhou, Y., van der Torre, L., Zhang, Y.: Partial goal satisfaction and goal change: Weak and strong partial implication, logical properties, complexity. In: Proc. of AAMAS 2008 (2008)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. EEMCS, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands

    M. Birna van Riemsdijk

  2. SRI International, Menlo Park, CA, USA

    Neil Yorke-Smith

  3. American University of Beirut, Lebanon

    Neil Yorke-Smith

Authors
  1. M. Birna van Riemsdijk
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Neil Yorke-Smith
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. College of Science, School of Computer Science and Informatics, University College Dublin, Belfield, 4, Dublin, Ireland

    Rem Collier

  2. Institut für Informatik, Technische Universität, Julius-Albert-Straße 4, 38678, Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Germany

    Jürgen Dix

  3. Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Czech Technical University, Karlovo namesti 13, 121 35, Prague 2, Czech Republic

    Peter Novák

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

van Riemsdijk, M.B., Yorke-Smith, N. (2012). Towards Reasoning with Partial Goal Satisfaction in Intelligent Agents. In: Collier, R., Dix, J., Novák, P. (eds) Programming Multi-Agent Systems. ProMAS 2010. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 6599. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-28939-2_3

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-28939-2_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-28938-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-28939-2

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation