intelligent agents: applications mgsc 497 chapter 19 4-22-98
TRANSCRIPT
Intelligent Agents: Applications
MgSc 497
Chapter 19
4-22-98
Intelligent Agents: Some Definitions
computer program which helps humans with routine computer tasks
advanced AI programs that function in specific environments to complete tasks
persistent software entity dedicated to a specific purpose
computational systems which inhabit an environment and sense and act autonomously in this environment
Intelligent Agents: “Softbots”
intelligent software robots--concept grew out of robotics
moving from the simulated, symbolic changes in artificial environments to the complexities of interacting with the physical world
software architecture which integrated reactions to the world with goal-based planning
Software Agents
grew out of a desire to develop smaller and more self-reliant code
programs running separately from the host environment, moving across networks to deliver information
JAVA and ActiveX are programming languages in which software could be developed in one place and ported to another
What Kind of Agents Exist in AI?
physical agents (robots) are located in places where humans find it difficult to go– outer space, depths of the ocean, hazardous
situations information agents travel the network or
interactive cyberspace worlds
What is an Autonomous Intelligent Agent?
Capable of acting on its own on the behalf of the user in pursuit of an agenda
will it pass the Turing test? is it software or something else? is it just a Web agent?
Components of an Agent
owner– user name, process name, master agent name
author– development owner, person or process
account– point of origin for the agent
Components of an Agent
goal– clear statement of successful task completion for
the agent subject description
– details of the goal’s attributes creation and duration background intelligent system
Simple vs. Intelligent Agents
a simple agent is given a task to complete and all the rules it needs to complete the task
an intelligent agent has the added capability of learning and the ability to exhibit autonomy (i.e., can take independent action)
Internet-based Software Agents
simple e-mail agents web-browing assistants
– ex: Letizia FAQ agents intelligent search agents (metasearch engines,
spiders, crawlers) network management and monitoring e-commerce agents
Characteristics of Intelligent Agents: Autonomy
goal-oriented– accepts high level requests from humans and decides how and
when to fill the request collaborative
– can modify requests, clarify requests or even refuse requests flexible
– modifies behavior when it encounters obstacles and in response to its environment
self-starting– can start in respsonse to a change in environment
Characteristics of Intelligent Agents
operates in the background designed to accomplish a single task communication with other agents automates repetitive tasks supports conditional processing capable of learning
Characteristics of Intelligent Agents:
reactive to changes in environment proactiveness temporal continuity (running continuously) personality (realistic human interface) mobility (can transport itself across
systems) Sounds like theperfect assistant!
Intelligent Agents: Applications
air traffic control air craft mission analysis control of telecommunications and network
systems transactions management in banks and
insurance companies supervision and control of manufacturing
environments
Intelligent Agents: Applications
provision and monitoring of medical care monitoring and control of industrial
processes on-line fault diagnosis and malfunction
handling
Intelligent Agents: Proposed Capabilities
reasoning and learning sensors interfacing with humans inter-agent communication
DARPA’s Intelligent Integration of Information Program
provide easy access to information in a form needed by end users and high level applications
intelligently reviewing, filtering, extracting, integrating, and abstracting information from the growing volume of data
this data is dynamically changing, inconsistent, incomplete, difficult to search
DARPA’s Intelligent Integration of Information Program (I*3)
data sources include knowledge bases, databases of all kinds, Web documents, text documents, graphics, videos, images
layer of information integration to buffer the user from this data
describes the content, format, location, and semantic meaning of the data
DARPA’s Intelligent Integration of Information Program
visit the site: http://dc.isx.com/I3/
I*3 Applications
air campaign planning tool– reduces planning time from 48 hours to 10
minutes advanced logistics program
– for moving resources in an efficient manner battlefield awareness engineering design
Other Agent Projects
Stanford’s ABE (Agent-Based Engineering Group)– how agent-based software can be applied to
engineering– design documentation, CAD applications
Lockheed Cosmos System Madefast
– collaborative design
JAVA Agent Template
fully functional template, written in JAVA used for constructing software agents which
have a peer-to-peer network of other agents distributed over the Internet
JAT agents have a static existence, living on one host, but they can immigrate
agents use KQML (Knowledge Query and Manipulation Language)
JAVA Agent Template
can be executed as standalone applications as applets using appletviewers will not work with Netscape Navigator
Other Agent Projects
Andersen Consulting, IBM, Lockheed http://bf.cstar.ac.com/bf/ http://www.agents-inc.com/ http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/
glinden/TravelSoftBot/ ATAInstructions.html
Other Agent Projects
intelligent browsers tracks user browser patterns and suggest shortcuts IBM Web Browsing Intelligence
– checks favorite pages and updates as needed LiveAgent
– lets users record their mouseclicks and keystrokes as they navigate the Web
– the recording becomes an agent
Other Agent Projects
Firefly– intelligent music recommendation service
ShopBot
Distributed Intelligent Agents
interface agents are single agents with simple knowledge and problem solving capabilities who perform information filtering and retrieval
softbots perform a wide range of user-delegated information finding tasks
mulitagent systems offer another alternative to access, filter, and integrate information
extends the concept of agent
Distributed Intelligent Agents
an agent’s user could be human or another agent
agents must be able to communicate with each other
open society of reusable agents who self-organize and cooperate in response to task requirements
Distributed Intelligent Agents: Architecture
planning module uses goals and produces a plan that satisfies the goals– uses a hierarchical planning method
communication and coordination modules accepts and interprets messages from other agents– e-mail is often used for communication– event notification services
Distributed Intelligent Agents: Architecture
scheduling module schedules each of the plan steps– a variety of scheduling heuristics can be used
execution monitoring process handles agent reactivity considerations– when an actions fails, an exception-handling
process takes over– ex: another agent doesn’t respond
Distributed Intelligent Agents: Architecture
belief and facts data structures contain facts and knowledge – ex: user profile
ex: an information agent is monitoring the Security APL Quote Server to watch the prices o IBM stock– it will periodically compare the price to a given
threshold at which it believes the user wants to sell
Distributed Intelligent Agents: Applications
organizational decision-making– e-mail filtering– calendar management– filtering news
more complex tasks– distributed, collaborative meeting schedules– finding information on the Internet– distributing relevant announcements about software,
grants, etc.
Distributed Intelligent Agents: Applications
financial portfolio management– multiple sources of information– multiple sources of expertise– user profile, status of user portfolio
Portfolio Management Agent
F u n d a m e n ta lA n a lys is
A g e n t
Technica l AnalysisA g e n t
B re a k in g N e w sA g e n t
A n a lys t T ra ck in gA g e n t
P o rtfo lio M a n ag erA g e n t
Earnings AnalystAgent
TickerTracker
MarketTracker
EconomicIndicatorTracker
SEC FilingsTracker
Distributed Intelligent Agents: Applications
one more application: energy management in Spain
Iberdrola, electric utility transport network contains 25,000 data
points 296 lines, 294 transformers, 939 breakers
Distributed Intelligent Agents: Applications
seven hetereogeneous agents on five different machines for an alarm-analysis expert system with service restoration
heterogeneous nature of the electrical network lent itself to distributed agent architecture
management of the network becomes much more complex during emergencies
Distributed Intelligent Agents: Applications
agent 1: breakers and relays supervisor agent 2: alarms analysis agent agent 3: blackout area identifier agent 4: service restoration agent 5: user interface agents 6 and 7: control system interface
More on Agents
http://aif.wu-wien.ac.at/usr/geyers/archive/iagents/vo/u1/unit/unit.html
http://lcs.www.media.mit.edu/groups/agents/ http://lcs.www.media.mit.edu/groups/agents/
projects/ http://trafficopter.www.media.mit.edu/
projects/trafficopter/ http://www.csee.umbc.edu/agents/
Managerial Issues
cost justification security privacy industrial intelligence and ethics agent learning agent accuracy and liability