From agent theory to agent construction: A case study

The construction of an agent simulation environment that is based strongly on a formal theory of agent systems, but which is intended to serve in exactly this way as a basis for practical development is described.

Abstract

There is a growing body of work that concentrates on theoretical aspects of agents and multi-agent systems, and a complementary body of work concerned with building practical systems. However, the two have typically been unrelated. This gap between the theory and practice of intelligent agents has only relatively recently begun to be addressed. In this paper we describe the construction of an agent simulation environment that is based strongly on a formal theory of agent systems, but which is intended to serve in exactly this way as a basis for practical development. The paper briefly introduces the theory, then describes the system and the simple reactive agents built with it, but most importantly shows how it reflects the theoretical framework and how it facilitates incremental agent design and implementation. Using this example as a case-study, some possibilities for a methodology for the development of agent systems are discussed.