Verifiable Self-Aware Agent-Based Autonomous Systems

Dennis, Louise A ORCID: 0000-0003-1426-1896 and Fisher, Michael (2020) Verifiable Self-Aware Agent-Based Autonomous Systems. Proceedings of the IEEE, 108 (7). pp. 1011-1026.

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Official URL: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9094672

Abstract

In this article, we describe an approach to autonomous system construction that not only supports self-awareness but also formal verification. This is based on modular construction where the key autonomous decision making is captured within a symbolically described “agent.” So, this article leads us from traditional systems architectures, via agent-based computing, to explainability, reconfigurability, and verifiability, and on to applications in robotics, autonomous vehicles, and machine ethics. Fundamentally, we consider self-awareness from an agent-based perspective. Agents are an important abstraction capturing autonomy, and we are particularly concerned with intentional, or rational, agents that expose the “intentions” of the autonomous system. Beyond being a useful abstract concept, agents also provide a practical engineering approach for building the core software in autonomous systems such as robots and vehicles. In a modular autonomous system architecture, agents of this form capture important decision making elements. Furthermore, this ability to transparently capture such decision making processes, and especially being able to expose their intentions, within an agent allows us to apply strong (formal) agent verification techniques to these systems.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Autonomous systems, Decision making, Drones, Testing, Autonomous automobiles, Safety, Autonomous agents, autonomous systems, formal verification, robot programming
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	20 May 2020 09:14
Last Modified:	18 Jan 2023 23:51
DOI:	10.1109/jproc.2020.2991262
Open Access URL:	https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9094672
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3088145