Time, Knowledge, and Choice

This article considers the link between theory and practice in agent-oriented programming. We begin by rigorously defining a new formal specification language for autonomous agents. This language is the expressive branching time logic CTL*, enriched by the addition of two further modal connectives, for representing knowledge and seeing to it that (stit). These connectives are grounded: given a concrete semantics in terms of the states and actions of an agent. This grounding makes it possible to establish a precise relationship between the specification language and deterministic automata, and in particular, the automatic synthesis of agents from logical specifications becomes a possibility. This possibility, and the potential problems associated with it, are discussed at length. The paper closes with a summary of future research issues and directions.

[1]  Nuel Belnap,et al.  The way of the agent , 1992, Stud Logica.

[2]  Leslie Pack Kaelbling,et al.  The Synthesis of Digital Machines With Provable Epistemic Properties , 1986, TARK.

[3]  Michael Wooldridge,et al.  This is MYWORLD: The Logic of an Agent-Oriented DAI Testbed , 1995, ECAI Workshop on Agent Theories, Architectures, and Languages.

[4]  Joseph Y. Halpern,et al.  A Guide to Completeness and Complexity for Modal Logics of Knowledge and Belief , 1992, Artif. Intell..

[5]  Anand S. Rao,et al.  Decision Procedures for Propositional Linear-Time Belief-Desire-Intention Logics , 1995, ATAL.

[6]  Michael Wooldridge,et al.  A Decision Procedure for a Temporal Belief Logic , 1994, ICTL.

[7]  N. Belnap.  Backwards and Forwards in the Modal Logic of Agency , 1991 .

[8]  Yoav Shoham,et al.  Agent-Oriented Programming , 1992, Artif. Intell..

[9]  Nicholas R. Jennings,et al.  Intelligent agents: theory and practice , 1995, The Knowledge Engineering Review.

[10]  Ming Xu,et al.  On the basic logic of STIT with a single agent , 1995, Journal of Symbolic Logic.

[11]  Joseph Y. Halpern,et al.  “Sometimes” and “not never” revisited: on branching versus linear time temporal logic , 1986, JACM.

[12]  Eric Werner,et al.  What Can Agents Do Together? A Semantics for Reasoning about Cooperative Ability , 1990, ECAI.

[13]  N. Belnap.  Before refraining: Concepts for agency , 1991 .

[14]  Michael Wooldridge,et al.  A First-Order Branching Time Logic of Multi-Agent System , 1992, ECAI.

[15]  Amir Pnueli,et al.  On the synthesis of a reactive module , 1989, POPL '89.

[16]  Cliff B. Jones,et al.  Systematic software development using VDM , 1986, Prentice Hall International Series in Computer Science.

[17]  Christen Krogh,et al.  The Rights of Agents , 1995, ATAL.

[18]  Joseph Y. Halpern.  Theoretical Aspects of Reasoning About Knowledge Proceedings of the 1986 Conference, March 19-22, 1986, Monterey, California , 1986 .

[19]  Anand S. Rao,et al.  An Abstract Architecture for Rational Agents , 1992, KR.

[20]  Ming Xu,et al.  Decidability of Deliberative Stit Theories with Multiple Agents , 1994, ICTL.

[21]  Joseph Y. Halpern,et al.  The complexity of reasoning about knowledge and time , 1986, STOC '86.

[22]  Joseph Y. Halpern.  USING REASONING ABOUT KNOWLEDGE TO ANALYZE DISTRIBUTED SYSTEMS , 1987 .

[23]  Joseph Y. Halpern,et al.  The Complexity of Reasoning about Knowledge and Time. I. Lower Bounds , 1989, J. Comput. Syst. Sci..

[24]  Ronald Fagin,et al.  What can machines know?: On the properties of knowledge in distributed systems , 1992, JACM.

[25]  Brian F. Chellas.  On bringing it about , 1995, J. Philos. Log..

[26]  Joseph Y. Halpern.  Reasoning About Knowledge: An Overview , 1986, TARK.

[27]  Hector J. Levesque,et al.  Intention is Choice with Commitment , 1990, Artif. Intell..

[28]  E. Allen Emerson,et al.  Temporal and Modal Logic , 1991, Handbook of Theoretical Computer Science, Volume B: Formal Models and Sematics.

[29]  J. Van Leeuwen,et al.  Handbook of theoretical computer science - Part A: Algorithms and complexity; Part B: Formal models and semantics , 1990 .