Glossary
- Actuator – something with effects the environment around it
- Agent – anything that can be viewed as perceiving its environment through sensors and acting upon it.
- Agent function – the mathematical way of describing an agents behavior
- Agent program – the agents dedicated programming (implements the agent function)
- Architecture – the layout of the agent
- Artificial intelligence – man-made intelligence.
- Autonomy – how little the agent relies on prior knowledge
- Condition-action rule – a rule which tell the agent how to act given a condition
- Critic – tells the learning element how well the agent is doing
- Deterministic – an environment in which the next state is solely determined by the current state and the action executed by the agent
- Dynamic – the environment can change while the agent is deliberating
- Effecter – something with effects the environment around it
- Environment – the landscape upon which the agent works
- Episodic – the choice of action taken by the agent depends only on the current state
- Goal – what the agent hopes to achieve
- Goal based agent – an agent which chooses an action form a list of actions which helps the agent complete its goals
- Internal state – the previous state of the world held inside the agents’ memory
- Learning – improving techniques through previous experiences
- Learning element – makes improvements to the performance element
- Model based agent – an agent which uses the current state it can see and the internal state to call a condition-action rule.
- Multi-agent – Many agents in one environment communicating together affecting each others decisions
- Observabillity – how much of an agents environment can be seen at any given instant
- Omniscience – when an agent knows an actual outcome of an action and acts accordingly
- Percepts – an agencies perceptual input at any given instant
- Percept sequence – the complete history of everything perceived by the agent
- Performance element – responsible for choosing external actions
- Performance measure – the criterion for an agent’s behavior
- Problem generator – introduces the performance element to new actions
- Rationality – the ideal concept of intelligence.
- Semi-dynamic – if the agents’ performance score can change while the agent is deliberating
- Sensors – something that can describe the environment around it
- Sequential – The current decision chosen by the agent affects all future decisions
- Simple reflex agent – an agent which takes the current situation and acts upon it if it has the correct condition – action rule
- Software agent – an agent whose environment is held in software
- Static – the environment doesn’t change while the agent is deliberating