Intelligent Agents Applications Mg Sc 497 Chapter 19

Intelligent Agents: Applications Mg. Sc 497 Chapter 19 4 -22 -98

Intelligent Agents: Some Definitions computer program which helps humans with routine computer tasks n advanced AI programs that function in specific environments to complete tasks n persistent software entity dedicated to a specific purpose n computational systems which inhabit an environment and sense and act autonomously in this environment n

Intelligent Agents: “Softbots” intelligent software robots--concept grew out of robotics n moving from the simulated, symbolic changes in artificial environments to the complexities of interacting with the physical world n software architecture which integrated reactions to the world with goal-based planning n

Software Agents grew out of a desire to develop smaller and more self-reliant code n programs running separately from the host environment, moving across networks to deliver information n JAVA and Active. X are programming languages in which software could be developed in one place and ported to another n

What Kind of Agents Exist in AI? n physical agents (robots) are located in places where humans find it difficult to go – n 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 n will it pass the Turing test? n is it software or something else? n is it just a Web agent? n

Components of an Agent n owner – n author – n user name, process name, master agent name development owner, person or process account – point of origin for the agent

Components of an Agent n goal – n clear statement of successful task completion for the agent subject description – details of the goal’s attributes creation and duration n background n intelligent system n

Simple vs. Intelligent Agents a simple agent is given a task to complete and all the rules it needs to complete the task n an intelligent agent has the added capability of learning and the ability to exhibit autonomy (i. e. , can take independent action) n

Internet-based Software Agents simple e-mail agents n web-browing assistants n – ex: Letizia FAQ agents n intelligent search agents (metasearch engines, spiders, crawlers) n network management and monitoring n e-commerce agents n

Characteristics of Intelligent Agents: Autonomy n goal-oriented – n collaborative – n accepts high level requests from humans and decides how and when to fill the request can modify requests, clarify requests or even refuse requests flexible – modifies behavior when it encounters obstacles and in response to its environment

Characteristics of Intelligent Agents operates in the background n designed to accomplish a single task n communication with other agents n automates repetitive tasks n supports conditional processing n capable of learning n

Characteristics of Intelligent Agents: reactive to changes in environment n proactiveness n temporal continuity (running continuously) n personality (realistic human interface) n mobility (can transport itself across systems) n Sounds like the perfect assistant!

Intelligent Agents: Applications air traffic control n air craft mission analysis n control of telecommunications and network systems n transactions management in banks and insurance companies n supervision and control of manufacturing environments n

Intelligent Agents: Applications provision and monitoring of medical care n monitoring and control of industrial processes n on-line fault diagnosis and malfunction handling n

Intelligent Agents: Proposed Capabilities reasoning and learning n sensors n interfacing with humans n inter-agent communication n

DARPA’s Intelligent Integration of Information Program provide easy access to information in a form needed by end users and high level applications n intelligently reviewing, filtering, extracting, integrating, and abstracting information from the growing volume of data n this data is dynamically changing, inconsistent, incomplete, difficult to search n

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 n layer of information integration to buffer the user from this data n describes the content, format, location, and semantic meaning of the data n

DARPA’s Intelligent Integration of Information Program n visit the site: http: //dc. isx. com/I 3/

I*3 Applications n air campaign planning tool – n reduces planning time from 48 hours to 10 minutes advanced logistics program – for moving resources in an efficient manner battlefield awareness n engineering design n

Other Agent Projects n Stanford’s ABE (Agent-Based Engineering Group) – – how agent-based software can be applied to engineering design documentation, CAD applications Lockheed Cosmos System n Madefast n – collaborative design

JAVA Agent Template fully functional template, written in JAVA n used for constructing software agents which have a peer-to-peer network of other agents distributed over the Internet n JAT agents have a static existence, living on one host, but they can immigrate n agents use KQML (Knowledge Query and Manipulation Language) n

JAVA Agent Template can be executed as standalone applications n as applets using appletviewers n will not work with Netscape Navigator n

Other Agent Projects Andersen Consulting, IBM, Lockheed n http: //bf. cstar. ac. com/bf/ n http: //www. agents-inc. com/ n http: //www. cs. washington. edu/homes/glind en/Travel. Soft. Bot/ n ATAInstructions. html n

Other Agent Projects intelligent browsers n tracks user browser patterns and suggest shortcuts n IBM Web Browsing Intelligence n – n checks favorite pages and updates as needed Live. Agent – – lets users record their mouseclicks and keystrokes as they navigate the Web the recording becomes an agent

Other Agent Projects n Firefly – n intelligent music recommendation service Shop. Bot

Distributed Intelligent Agents interface agents are single agents with simple knowledge and problem solving capabilities who perform information filtering and retrieval n softbots perform a wide range of userdelegated information finding tasks n mulitagent systems offer another alternative to access, filter, and integrate information n extends the concept of agent n

Distributed Intelligent Agents an agent’s user could be human or another agent n agents must be able to communicate with each other n open society of reusable agents who selforganize and cooperate in response to task requirements n

Distributed Intelligent Agents: Architecture n planning module uses goals and produces a plan that satisfies the goals – n 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 n scheduling module schedules each of the plan steps – n 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 n belief and facts data structures contain facts and knowledge – n 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 n organizational decision-making – – – n 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 n financial portfolio management – – – multiple sources of information multiple sources of expertise user profile, status of user portfolio

Portfolio Management Agent Earnings Analyst Agent Ticker Tracker Market Tracker SEC Filings Tracker Economic Indicator Tracker

Distributed Intelligent Agents: Applications one more application: energy management in Spain n Iberdrola, electric utility n transport network contains 25, 000 data points n 296 lines, 294 transformers, 939 breakers n

Distributed Intelligent Agents: Applications seven hetereogeneous agents on five different machines for an alarm-analysis expert system with service restoration n heterogeneous nature of the electrical network lent itself to distributed agent architecture n management of the network becomes much more complex during emergencies n

Distributed Intelligent Agents: Applications agent 1: breakers and relays supervisor n agent 2: alarms analysis agent n agent 3: blackout area identifier n agent 4: service restoration n agent 5: user interface n agents 6 and 7: control system interface n

More on Agents http: //aif. wuwien. ac. at/usr/geyers/archive/iagents/vo/u 1/ unit/unit. html n http: //lcs. www. media. mit. edu/groups/agents /projects/ n http: //trafficopter. www. media. mit. edu/proje cts/trafficopter/ n

Managerial Issues cost justification n security n privacy n industrial intelligence and ethics n agent learning n agent accuracy and liability n