Agents and Environments

Question 1

What is an agent?

Answer 1

An agent is something that perceives and acts in an environment. The agent function for an agent specifies the action taken by the agent in response to any percept sequence.

Question 2

What is a performance measure?

Answer 2

The performance measure evaluates the behavior of the agent in an environment. A rational agent acts so as to maximize the expected value of the performance measure, given the percept sequence it has seen so far.

Question 3

What is a task environment?

Answer 3

A task environment specification includes the performance measure, the external environment, the actuators, and the sensors. In designing an agent, the first step must always be to specify the task environment as fully as possible.

Question 4

Name and describe 4 different kinds of agents

Answer 4

Simple reflex agents respond directly to percepts, whereas model-based reflex agents maintain internal state to track aspects of the world that are not evident in the current percept. Goal-based agents act to achieve their goals, and utility-based agents try to maximize their own expected “happiness.”

Question 5

Define task environment sp