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Agent Oriented Software Development

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Presentation on theme: "Agent Oriented Software Development"— Presentation transcript:

1 Agent Oriented Software Development
References © Eric Yu 2001

2 Agent-Oriented Software
Situated / Pro-active sense the environment and perform actions that change the environment Autonomous have control over their own actions and internal states can act without direct intervention from humans Flexible responsive to changes in environment, goal-oriented, opportunistic, take initiatives Social interact with other artificial agents and humans to complete their tasks and help others Jennings, Sycara, Wooldridge (1998) A Roadmap of Agent Research & Development. Autonomous Agents & Multi-Agent Systems journal. © Eric Yu 2001

3 But why Agent Orientation?
The “world” (application environment) has become more distributed, autonomous, networked… I.e. the agent properties are being found in the world. E.g. E-commerce, e-health, e-learning, groupwork, kn mgt Question is: how to make the software systems meet these desired properties (in the world) That’s the job of RE (and SE). But previously, no way of expressing these properties. RE languages need to be social, intentional. Most AOSE methodologies focus the system, not on relationship to the world © Eric Yu 2001

4 Requirements Engineering
relationship between system and environment. Bubenko (1980), Greenspan (1982), Jackson (1983)… Traditional focus: consistency, completeness, … e.g., “Three Dimensions of RE” Pohl (1993) informal -> formal (representation) opaque -> complete (specification) personal view -> common view (agreement) Suitable for a more stable, non-distributed world Recent: goals, scenarios, agents See overview in van Lamsweerde (ICSE 2000) © Eric Yu 2001

5 Ubiquity The continual reduction in cost of computing capability has made it possible to introduce processing power into places and devices that would have once been uneconomic As processing capability spreads, sophistication (and intelligence of a sort) becomes ubiquitous What could benefit from having a processor embedded in it…? © Eric Yu 2001

6 Interconnection Computer systems today no longer stand alone, but are networked into large distributed systems The internet is an obvious example, but networking is spreading its ever-growing tentacles… Since distributed and concurrent systems have become the norm, some researchers are putting forward theoretical models that portray computing as primarily a process of interaction © Eric Yu 2001

7 Intelligence The complexity of tasks that we are capable of automating and delegating to computers has grown steadily If you don’t feel comfortable with this definition of “intelligence”, it’s probably because you are a human © Eric Yu 2001

8 Computers are doing more for us – without our intervention
Delegation Computers are doing more for us – without our intervention We are giving control to computers, even in safety critical tasks One example: fly-by-wire aircraft, where the machine’s judgment may be trusted more than an experienced pilot Next on the agenda: fly-by-wire cars, intelligent braking systems, cruise control that maintains distance from car in front… © Eric Yu 2001

9 Human Orientation The movement away from machine-oriented views of programming toward concepts and metaphors that more closely reflect the way we ourselves understand the world Programmers (and users!) relate to the machine differently Programmers conceptualize and implement software in terms of higher-level – more human-oriented – abstractions © Eric Yu 2001

10 Global Computing What techniques might be needed to deal with systems composed of 1010 processors? Don’t be deterred by its seeming to be “science fiction” Hundreds of millions of people connected by / Social Networks even over the phone once seemed to be “science fiction”… Let’s assume that current software development models can’t handle this… © Eric Yu 2001

11 Where does it bring us? Delegation and Intelligence imply the need to build computer systems that can act effectively on our behalf This implies: The ability of computer systems to act independently The ability of computer systems to act in a way that represents our best interests while interacting with other humans or systems © Eric Yu 2001

12 Interconnection and Distribution
Interconnection and Distribution have become core motifs in IT But Interconnection and Distribution, coupled with the need for systems to represent our best interests, implies systems that can cooperate and reach agreements (or even compete) with other systems that have different interests (much as we do with other people) © Eric Yu 2001

13 Agents, a Definition An agent is a computer system that is capable of independent action on behalf of its user or owner (figuring out what needs to be done to satisfy design objectives, rather than constantly being told) © Eric Yu 2001

14 Multiagent Systems, a Definition
A multiagent system is one that consists of a number of agents, which interact with one-another In the most general case, agents will be acting on behalf of users with different goals and motivations To successfully interact, they will require the ability to cooperate, coordinate, and negotiate with each other, much as people do © Eric Yu 2001

15 Spacecraft Control When a space probe makes its long flight from Earth to the outer planets, a ground crew is usually required to continually track its progress, and decide how to deal with unexpected eventualities. This is costly and, if decisions are required quickly, it is simply not practicable. For these reasons, organizations like NASA are seriously investigating the possibility of making probes more autonomous — giving them richer decision making capabilities and responsibilities. This is not fiction: NASA’s DS1 has done it! © Eric Yu 2001

16 Air Traffic Control “A key air-traffic control system…suddenly fails, leaving flights in the vicinity of the airport with no air-traffic control support. Fortunately, autonomous air-traffic control systems in nearby airports recognize the failure of their peer, and cooperate to track and deal with all affected flights.” Systems taking the initiative when necessary Agents cooperating to solve problems beyond the capabilities of any individual agent © Eric Yu 2001

17 A typical process model
Automobile insurance claims example … but we need deeper understanding! © Eric Yu 2001

18 … a deeper understanding about processes
Car owner wants car to be repaired Insurance company wants to minimize claims payout Car owner wants fair appraisal of repairs Insurance agent wants to maintain good customer relations © Eric Yu 2001

19 Modelling Strategic Actor Relationships and Rationales. - the i
Modelling Strategic Actor Relationships and Rationales the i* modelling framework Strategic Actors have goals, beliefs, abilities, commitments depend on each other for goals to be achieved, tasks to be performed, resources to be furnished are semi-autonomous -- not fully knowable / controllable © Eric Yu 2001

20 Strategic Dependency Relationship
I want … Actor B I can Actor A D Car Be Repaired © Eric Yu 2001

21 i* objectives, premises, key concepts
D Actors are semi-autonomous, partially knowable Strategic actors, intentional dependencies have choice, reasons about alternate means to ends wants and abilities means-ends alternatives © Eric Yu 2001

22 i* modeling explicit intentionality  goals
2. implicit intentionality  agents functional decomposition means-ends alternatives wants and abilities inputs outputs D © Eric Yu 2001

23 © Eric Yu 2001

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27 © Eric Yu 2001

28 Development-World model refers to and reasons about…
Strategic Rationale Model Development-World model refers to and reasons about… Alt-1 Alt-2 To-be As-is Operational-World models Strategic Dependency Models © Eric Yu 2001

29 © Eric Yu 2001

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31 © Eric Yu 2001

32 Softgoal Operationalizations: Contribution Relationship
Side-effects to softgoals: Correlation Relationship © Eric Yu 2001

33 Analysis and Design Support
opportunities and vulnerabilities ability, workability, viability, believability insurance, assurance, enforceability node and loop analysis design issues raising, evaluating, justifying, settling based on qualitative reasoning [Chung Nixon Yu Mylopoulos (2000) Non-Functional Requirements in Software Engineering. Kluwer Academic Publishers.] © Eric Yu 2001

34 Another Example: Meeting Scheduler
From: E. Yu. Towards Modelling and Reasoning Support for Early-Phase Requirements Engineering    3rd IEEE Int. Symp. on Requirements Engineering (RE'97) Jan. 6-8, 1997, Washington D.C., USA. pp © Eric Yu 2001

35 “Strategic Dependency” Model
[Yu RE97] Meeting Scheduling Example © Eric Yu 2001

36 Revealing goals, finding alternatives
Ask “Why”, “How”, “How else” © Eric Yu 2001

37 Scheduling meeting …with meeting scheduler
© Eric Yu 2001

38 “Strategic Rationale” Model with Meeting Scheduler
SR2 © Eric Yu 2001

39 Analyzing vulnerabilities
Example of enforcement mechanism Reciprocal dependency Loop analysis © Eric Yu 2001

40 Strategic Modelling for Enterprise Integration
© Eric Yu 2001

41 Consider one very successful enterprise...
important organizational and social aspects are missing in conventional models © Eric Yu 2001

42 A Strategic Dependency Model
actor goal dependency task dependency resource dependency softgoal dependency LEGEND © Eric Yu 2001

43 Wants and Abilities I want ... I can provide ... © Eric Yu 2001

44 Some strategic dependencies between IKEA and its customers
© Eric Yu 2001

45 Roles, Positions, Agents
LEGEND agent position role A Strategic Dependency model showing reward structure for improving performance, based on an example in [Majchrzak96] © Eric Yu 2001

46 For downloading OME: http://www. cs. toronto
For downloading OME:                    When prompt for username and password, please enter the following information.        username: yorku        password: ome4you © Eric Yu 2001


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