COORD-2: How to Equip an Agent with an Interaction Strategy
Whilst interaction protocols describe how agents interact, they do not explain
why. This arises from each agent's intentions and motivations, which need to
be encoded into interaction strategies. At this stage of the realisation
process agent developers can choose an appropriate strategy for their agents.
These strategies are entered through the 'Co-ordination Strategies' panel, and
refer to the protocol currently selected in the upper Co-ordination Protocols
table.
In associating a strategy with an agent what we are specifying the parameters
the agent will use to obtain particular facts from other agents. This involves
the following steps:
- Ensure the relevant protocol is the currently selected entry in the
upper 'Co-ordination Protocols' table
- A default strategy will appear in the table - this can be configured as
appropriate by entering information into its Fact Type, Agents, Relations,
Strategy and Parameter fields - the options applicable are described in more
detail in the ZEUS Realisation guide.
- A protocol can be associated with more than one strategy, to add a new
strategy click on the toolbar's New button, this will create a new entry
- When the Mode field is checked, the strategy will be used when negotiating
for the fact type in question. If the opposite is true, deselect it.
The strategy itself is a body of procedural knowledge that will have been
implemented as a Java file and incorporated into one of the ZEUS packages,
(see activity COORD-3).