Glossary

• Actuator – something with effects the environment around it
• Agent – anything that can be viewed as perceiving its environment through sensors and acting upon it.
• Agent function – the mathematical way of describing an agents behavior
• Agent program – the agents dedicated programming (implements the agent function)
• Architecture – the layout of the agent
• Artificial intelligence – man-made intelligence.
• Autonomy – how little the agent relies on prior knowledge
• Condition-action rule – a rule which tell the agent how to act given a condition
• Critic – tells the learning element how well the agent is doing
• Deterministic – an environment in which the next state is solely determined by the current state and the action executed by the agent
• Dynamic – the environment can change while the agent is deliberating
• Effecter – something with effects the environment around it
• Environment – the landscape upon which the agent works
• Episodic – the choice of action taken by the agent depends only on the current state
• Goal – what the agent hopes to achieve
• Goal based agent – an agent which chooses an action form a list of actions which helps the agent complete its goals
• Internal state – the previous state of the world held inside the agents’ memory
• Learning – improving techniques through previous experiences
• Learning element – makes improvements to the performance element
• Model based agent – an agent which uses the current state it can see and the internal state to call a condition-action rule.
• Multi-agent – Many agents in one environment communicating together affecting each others decisions
• Observabillity – how much of an agents environment can be seen at any given instant
• Omniscience – when an agent knows an actual outcome of an action and acts accordingly
• Percepts – an agencies perceptual input at any given instant
• Percept sequence – the complete history of everything perceived by the agent
• Performance element – responsible for choosing external actions
• Performance measure – the criterion for an agent’s behavior
• Problem generator – introduces the performance element to new actions
• Rationality – the ideal concept of intelligence.
• Semi-dynamic – if the agents’ performance score can change while the agent is deliberating
• Sensors – something that can describe the environment around it
• Sequential – The current decision chosen by the agent affects all future decisions
• Simple reflex agent – an agent which takes the current situation and acts upon it if it has the correct condition – action rule
• Software agent – an agent whose environment is held in software
• Static – the environment doesn’t change while the agent is deliberating