Definition
Agent theory provides the basis for a novel paradigm of computation. While agent-based computing (or simply, agent system) has several roots as far as its concepts, models, and enabling technologies are concerned, there is a general consensus about its two main abstractions (Wooldridge 2009; Luck et al. 2005; Shoham and Leyton-Brown 2009):
An agent is a computational system that is situated in an unpredictable, dynamic environment where it is capable of exhibiting autonomous and intelligent behavior.
An agent’s environment typically includes also other agents with diverging information and/or interests. The community of interacting agents, as a whole, operates as a multi-agent system (MAS) that can solve such complex problems that are beyond the limits of individual agents.
Theory and Application
History
The theory of computational agents goes back at least a quarter of a century when...
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Váncza, J. (2016). Agent Theory. In: The International Academy for Produ, Laperrière, L., Reinhart, G. (eds) CIRP Encyclopedia of Production Engineering. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35950-7_16702-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35950-7_16702-5
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