| dc.description.abstract | Modal logics with possible worlds semantics can be used to represent mental
states such as belief, goal, and intention, allowing one to formally describe the
rational behavior of agents. Agent??s beliefs and goals are typically represented in
these logics by primitive modal operators. However, the representation of agent??s
intentions varies greatly between theories. Some logics characterize intention as a
primitive operator, while others define intention in terms of more primitive constructs.
Taking the latter approach is a theory due to Philip Cohen and Hector
Levesque, under which intentions are a special form of commitment or persistent
goal. The theory has motivated theories of speech acts and joint intention
and innovative applications in multiagent systems and industrial robotics. However,
Munindar Singh shows the theory to have certain logical inconsistencies
and permit certain absurd scenarios. This thesis presents a modification of the
theory that preserves the desirable aspects of the original while addressing the
criticism of Singh. This is achieved by the introduction of an additional operator
describing the achievement of expectations, refined assumptions, and new defi-
nitions of intention. The modified theory gives a cogent account of the rational
balance between agents?? action and deliberation, and suggests the use of meansends
reasoning in agent implementations. A rule-based reasoner in Jess facilitates
evaluation of the predictiveness and intuitiveness of the theory, and provides a
prototypical agent based on the theory. | en |
