About the Agent Creation Process
The objective of this process is to configure the the generic ZEUS agent to
fulfil the application-specific responsibilities suggested by the design.
The prerequisite of this stage is the application ontology, once this has been
defined you can attempt the stages of the Agent Creation process, which are:
- Agent Definition - the agent's tasks, initial resources and planning abilities
- Agent Organisation - where the social context of each agent is specified
- Agent Co-ordination - where agents are equipped with the social abilities
for interaction
The Agent Definition Stage
This stage involves describing the abilities and initial resources of the
agent; this is achieved through the following activities:
- DEF-1 : Configuring Planning Parameters
- DEF-2 : Task Identification (leading to
Task Specification)
- DEF-3 : Entry of Initial Agent Resources
The Agent Organisation Stage
By the time this activity is attempted the application's agents should already
have been defined, along with the tasks they are capable of performing. This
stage involves supplying this knowledge about agents and abilities to the
agents themselves, as by default, agents are ignorant of names and the abilities
of their neighbours. This stage involves the following activities:
- ORG-1 : Entering Known Acquaintances
- ORG-2 : Entering Known Abilities
The Agent Co-ordination Stage
This stage involves equipping the agent with the co-ordination protocols and
expertise required for social interaction with other agents; this involves
the following activities:
- COORD-1 : Equipping the agent with a co-ordination protocol
- COORD-2 : Equipping the agent with an interaction strategy
- COORD-3 : Adding new Interaction Protocols and Strategies
The stages of the agent creation process, and how the facilities of the ZEUS
Agent Generator support them, are documented in the ZEUS Realisation Guide.