Multi-agent simulation
An agent can be defined as anything that is able to perceive an environment through sensors and act in it through actuators. Artificial intelligence focuses on the concept of a rational agent, or an agent who always tries to optimize an appropriate performance measure. A rational agent can be a human agent, a robotic agent, or a software agent. In the following diagram, we can see the interaction between the agent and the environment:
Figure 5.9 – Interaction between the agent and the environment
An agent is considered autonomous when it can flexibly and independently choose the actions to be taken to achieve its goals, without constantly resorting to the intervention of an external decision system. Note that, in most complex domains, an agent can only partially obtain information and have control in the environment that it has been inserted into, thus exerting, at most, a certain influence on it.
An agent can be considered...
