This paper discusses a general architecture for intelligent software agents. It can be used to construct agents that engage in high-level reasoning by employing standard reasoning engines as plug-in components, while communicating with other agents by means of the standard FIPA-based communication protocols. The approach discussed uses internal micro-agents and declarative goals to form a hierarchical internal agent architecture. It has been implemented and tested with three high-level formal reasoning system components that are used in conjunction with an existing agent platform, OPAL, which supports the FIPA (Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents) communication standards.
Mengqiu Wang, Martin K. Purvis, Mariusz Nowostawsk