Outlined here is a real situation which could be thought of as a multiagent system. The agents will be defined as will their effectoric capabilities, the environment and also a brief look at how different factors will affect the agents' reasoning will be presented.
The Situation
Below is a picture of a ski course that will make up our environment.
Above: Ski course for the agents. Source.
As it can be seen, there are
three different colours of paths leading down the mountain.
These different colours represent three different
difficulty levels, blue is for beginners, red for
intermediates and black for experts.
The idea is that there are multiple agents that represent
skiers. The task of each agent is to make their way from
the top of the mountain, down to the lodge in the fastest
time possible. The agents will have different skill levels
and a confidence level that will affect their decision
making abilities on which route to take.
Agents
The agents in this system are represented by skiers.
Environment
The environment is the slope that contains different pistes
for different difficulty settings.
Tasks
The task of all the agents is to make to the lodge as soon
as possible.
Effectoric capabilities
The agents will be able to perform particular tasks in
order to navigate down the slope. These include:
•
Speeding
up.
•
Slowing
down.
•
Stopping.
•
Turning.
•
Bailing
out.
Reasoning
The agents would mainly use practical reasoning. The
factors affecting which route they decide to take will be a
combination of the agent's skill level and their
confidence. As the agents progress down the slope,
naturally their skill will improve as will their
confidence. This means that they can take different routes
down the slope. But the environment can affect an agents
confidence. For example, if the agent falls then its skill
will not decrease but its confidence will. Similarly if the
weather takes a turn for the worse.
Analysis
This model could be used by a ski station manager in order
to simulate the flow of skiers on the domain and possibly
decide where to add new installations. This would reduce
the waiting time skiers spend on lifts and increase the
capacities of the domain.
This example is similar to the concept of the DARPA Grand Challenge. In this
challenge autonomous cars must drive themselves across
unspecified terrain in the desert to their target
location.