mil.navy.nps.relate
Class Agent

java.lang.Object
  mil.navy.nps.relate.Thing
      mil.navy.nps.relate.Agent

Direct Known Subclasses:

CTFAgent

public abstract class Agent

extends Thing

This abstract class implements the RELATE Agent.

Since all Agents are objects, or things, Agent extends Thing, giving it the ability to update and draw itself. By the definition:

an agent "...perceives its environment through sensors and acts upon that environment through effectors to achieve one or more goals."

To satisfy these requirements, the developer must first establish a method for the agent to gather information about the environment it exists in. This information is stored in the sensedEnvironment data member. This class allows the developer to do this by defining the abstract getSensedEnvironment() and setSensedEnvironment() methods to interact with the simulation environment directly. These methods should utilize the sensorList hashtable to define what each agent is capable of sensing, and only allow the agent to sense the specific attributes of the environment that its current sensor list can detect or discern.

Next, the agent must select an appropriate action. Two things are needed for this: actions that can be selected, and a method or methods to select these actions. The actions each agent can take are simulation-dependent and must be defined by the developer. For simpler simulations, actions can be built into the Agent class itself. An Action interface is provided as a tool for the developer designing more complex simulations. The mechanism for selecting actions is based upon the relationships each agent forms, and the associated roles and goals that the agent attempts to fulfill.

Agents have a relationship hashtable that the developer must fill with the class names of all the potential relationships that the agent can form. This can be accomplished by using the addRelationshipName() method.

Since:

JDK1.3

Version:

1.0, 17 Aug 00

Author:

Michael R. Dickson, Kimberly A. Roddy

Field Summary

RelationshipManager

relationshipManager A "singleton" object that handles all relationships for this agent.

Fields inherited from class mil.navy.nps.relate.Thing

entityID, entityName

Constructor Summary

Agent(long pID, java.lang.String pName)
Constructor for this Agent

Method Summary

void	addRelationshipName(java.lang.String pRelationshipName) Adds the passed in class name of the relationship in question.
void	addRelationshipNames(java.util.Vector pRelationshipNames) Adds the passed in class name vector of the agents possible relationships.
void	addRole(Role pRole) Adds the passed in role to the role vector.
abstract void	assignCredit() Assigns credit to current goal set.
void	checkForRelationships() checkForRelationships() calls the relationshipManagers method of the same name.
Goal	getActiveGoal() Gets the active goal object.
Role	getActiveRole() Gets the active role object.
long	getAgentID() Gets the Agent's ID by using the super's getEntityID method
java.lang.String	getAgentName() Gets the Agent's name by using the super's getEntityName method
java.util.Hashtable	getGoalList() Gets the Agent's goalList
Goal	getPastActiveGoal() Gets the Agents past active goal
Personality	getPersonality() Gets the Agent's personality
java.util.Hashtable	getRelationshipTable() Gets the Agent's relationship Hashtable
java.util.Vector	getRoleVector() Gets the Agent's role vector
abstract SensedEnvironment	getSensedEnvironment() Gets the SensedEnvironment.
java.util.Hashtable	getSensorList() Gets the Agent's sensorList
void	removeRelationshipName(java.lang.String pRelationshipName) Removes the associated relationship corresponding to the passed in relationship class name from the relationship hashtable.
boolean	removeRole(Role pRole) Removes the passed in role from the role vector.
void	setActiveGoal(Goal pGoal) Sets the active goal
protected void	setAgentID(long pID) Sets the Agent's ID by using the super's setEntityID method
protected void	setAgentName(java.lang.String pAgentName) Sets the Agent's name by using the super's SetEntityName method
void	setPastActiveGoal(Goal pGoal) Sets the Agents past active goal
void	setPersonality(Personality pPersonality) Sets the Agent's personality
abstract void	setSensedEnvironment(SensedEnvironment pPEnv) Sets the agents SensedEnvironment to the passed in object
void	setSensorList(java.util.Hashtable pSensorList) Sets the Agent's sensorList

Methods inherited from class mil.navy.nps.relate.Thing

drawSelf, getEntityID, getEntityName, setEntityID, setEntityName, step

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Field Detail

relationshipManager

public RelationshipManager relationshipManager

A "singleton" object that handles all relationships for this agent. Used as a conduit to forming or joining all possible realtionships this agent can be a part of.

Constructor Detail

Agent

public Agent(long pID,
             java.lang.String pName)

Constructor for this Agent

Method Detail

getSensedEnvironment

public abstract SensedEnvironment getSensedEnvironment()

Gets the SensedEnvironment.

Returns:

A SensedEnvironment containing the perceived environement.

setSensedEnvironment

public abstract void setSensedEnvironment(SensedEnvironment pPEnv)

Sets the agents SensedEnvironment to the passed in object

assignCredit

public abstract void assignCredit()

Assigns credit to current goal set. This should call assignCredit() in all of the agents held goals. The result of these calls will assign weights to all goals. These weights will determine the current active goal for each goaltype held.

addRelationshipName

public void addRelationshipName(java.lang.String pRelationshipName)

Adds the passed in class name of the relationship in question. The integer 32 is set as the element in the hashtable. This integer is used by various classes to check to see if the agent is actually a member of a relationship. If the agent is a member, a relationship object replaces the integer.

addRelationshipNames

public void addRelationshipNames(java.util.Vector pRelationshipNames)

Adds the passed in class name vector of the agents possible relationships. The integer 32 is set as the element in the hashtable. This integer is used by various classes to check to see if the agent is actually a member of a relationship. If the agent is a member, a relationship object replaces the integer.

removeRelationshipName

public void removeRelationshipName(java.lang.String pRelationshipName)

Removes the associated relationship corresponding to the passed in relationship class name from the relationship hashtable. Replaces the relationship object with an integer.

addRole

public void addRole(Role pRole)

Adds the passed in role to the role vector. It then adds the new Role's Goals to the goalList.

Parameters:

pRole - The new Role being assigned

removeRole

public boolean removeRole(Role pRole)

Removes the passed in role from the role vector. It then removes the roles associated goals from the goalList.

Parameters:

pRole - The Role that is to be removed

Returns:

The success of the removal operation

checkForRelationships

public void checkForRelationships()

checkForRelationships() calls the relationshipManagers method of the same name. This is the mechanism that allows the agent to join or form a designeted relationship.

getActiveRole

public Role getActiveRole()

Gets the active role object.

Returns:

The active Role for this Agent.

getActiveGoal

public Goal getActiveGoal()

Gets the active goal object.

Returns:

The active Goal for this Agent.

setActiveGoal

public void setActiveGoal(Goal pGoal)

Sets the active goal

Parameters:

pGoal - The Agents new active goal.

getPastActiveGoal

public Goal getPastActiveGoal()

Gets the Agents past active goal

Returns:

This Agent's past active Goal.

setPastActiveGoal

public void setPastActiveGoal(Goal pGoal)

Sets the Agents past active goal

Parameters:

pGoal - The Agent's past active goal.

getGoalList

public java.util.Hashtable getGoalList()

Gets the Agent's goalList

Returns:

goalList

getSensorList

public java.util.Hashtable getSensorList()

Gets the Agent's sensorList

Returns:

sensorList

setSensorList

public void setSensorList(java.util.Hashtable pSensorList)

Sets the Agent's sensorList

Parameters:

pSensorList -

getAgentID

public long getAgentID()

Gets the Agent's ID by using the super's getEntityID method

Returns:

agentID

setAgentID

protected void setAgentID(long pID)

Sets the Agent's ID by using the super's setEntityID method

getPersonality

public Personality getPersonality()

Gets the Agent's personality

Returns:

personality

setPersonality

public void setPersonality(Personality pPersonality)

Sets the Agent's personality

getRelationshipTable

public java.util.Hashtable getRelationshipTable()

Gets the Agent's relationship Hashtable

Returns:

relationshipTable

getAgentName

public java.lang.String getAgentName()

Gets the Agent's name by using the super's getEntityName method

Returns:

agentName

setAgentName

protected void setAgentName(java.lang.String pAgentName)

Sets the Agent's name by using the super's SetEntityName method

getRoleVector

public java.util.Vector getRoleVector()

Gets the Agent's role vector

Returns:

roleVec