PRACTIONIST: Implementing PRACTIcal reasONIng sySTems

One of the best known approaches to the devel- opment of rational agents is the BDI (Belief-Desire-Intention) architecture. In this paper we propose a new framework, PRACTIONIST (PRACTIcal reasONIng sySTem), to support the development of BDI agents in Java (using JADE) with a Prolog belief base. In PRACTIONIST we adopt a goal-oriented approach with a clear separation between the deliberation and the means-ends reasoning, and then between the states of affairs to pursue and the way to do it. Besides, PRACTIONIST allows developers to implement agents that are able to reason about their beliefs and the other agents' beliefs, expressed by modal logic formulas. Our approach also includes a specific tool that provides the developer with the possibility to effectively monitor the components involved in the execution cycle of an agent.