Debugging agent behavior in an implemented agent system

Abstract

As agent systems become more sophisticated, there is a growing need for agent-oriented debugging, maintenance, and testing methods and tools. This paper presents the Tracing Method and accompanying Tracer tool to help debug agents by explaining actual agent behavior in the implemented system. The Tracing Method captures dynamic run-time data by logging actual agent behavior, creates modeled interpretations in terms of agent concepts (e.g. beliefs, goals, and intentions), and analyzes those models to gain insight into both the design and the implemented agent behavior. An implementation of the Tracing Method is the Tracer tool, which is demonstrated in a target-monitoring domain. The Tracer tool can help (1) determine if agent design specifications are correctly implemented and guide debugging efforts and (2) discover and examine motivations for agent behaviors such as beliefs, communications, and intentions. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.