New Autonomous Systems [Hardcover]

The idea of autonomous systems that are able to make choices according to properties which allow them to experience, apprehend and assess their environment is becoming a reality. These systems are capable of auto-configuration and self-organization.

This book presents a model for the creation of autonomous systems based on a complex substratum, made up of multiple electronic components that deploy a variety of specific features.

This substratum consists of multi-agent systems which act continuously and autonomously to collect information from the environment which they then feed into the global system, allowing it to generate discerning and concrete representations of its surroundings.

These systems are able to construct a so-called artificial corporeity which allows them to have a sense of self, to then behave autonomously, in a way reminiscent of living organisms.

Introduction ix

List of Algorithms xi

Chapter 1 Systems and their Design 1

1.1 Modeling systems 1

1.1.1 Conventional systems 2

1.1.2 Complex systems 3

1.1.3 System of systems 3

1.2 Autonomous systems 5

1.3 Agents and multi-agent systems 6

1.3.1 The weak notion of agent 7

1.3.2 The strong notion of agent 7

1.3.3 Cognitive agents and reactive agents 8

1.3.4 Multi-agent systems 9

1.3.5 Reactive agent-based MAS 10

1.3.6 Cognitive agent-based MAS 11

1.4 Systems and organisms 13

1.5 The issue of modeling an autonomous system 13

Chapter 2 The Global Architecture of an Autonomous System 17

2.1 Introduction 17

2.2 Reactivity of a system 17lc7