Understanding Intelligent Agents: Analysis And Synthesis

Current views of intelligent agent technologies are reviewed with respect to (a) their general cognitive capabilities and (b) the classic Belief-Desire-Intention (BDI) model. A benchmark agent model is developed as a basis for analyzing and comparing agent systems. PROforma is an agent technology that has grown out of work in modeling medical expertise and the benchmark is used to carry out a case study analysis of this technology, looking at it from three contrasting points of view: logic programming, object-oriented programming and agent-oriented programming. These viewpoints yield different insights into the strengths and weaknesses of PROforma and lead to a clarification and consolidation of the benchmark agent features. The consolidated model offers a useful framework for analysis and comparison of other agent systems in medicine or other domains.