A Framework for Dynamical Intention in Hybrid Navigating Agents

Abstract

As a foundation for goal-directed behavior, the reactive and deliberative systems of a hybrid agent can share a single, unifying representation of intention. In this paper, we present a framework for incorporating dynamical intention into hybrid agents, based on ideas from spreading activation models and belief-desire-intention (BDI) models. In this framework, intentions and other cognitive elements are represented as continuously varying quantities, employed by both sub-deliberative and deliberative processes: On the reactive level, representations support some real-time responsive task re-sequencing; on the deliberative level, representations support common logical reasoning. Because cognitive representations are shared across both levels, inter-level integration is straightforward. Furthermore, dynamical intention is demonstrably consistent with philosophical observations that inform conventional BDI models, so dynamical intentions function as conventional intentions. After describing our framework, we briefly summarize simple demonstrations of our approach, suggesting that dynamical intention-guided intelligence can potentially extend benefits of reactivity without compromising advantages of deliberation in a hybrid agent.