Agent Communications Language
Encyclopedia
Agent Communication Language (ACL), proposed by the Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents (FIPA), is a proposed standard language for agent communications. Knowledge Query and Manipulation Language
(KQML) is another proposed standard.
The most popular ACLs are:
Both rely on speech act
theory developed by Searle
in 1960 and enhanced by Winograd
and Flores
in the 1970s. They define a set of performatives and their meaning (e.g. ask-one). The content of the performative is not standardized, but varies from system to system.
To make agents understand each other they have to not only speak the same language, but also have a common ontology
. An ontology is a part of the agent's knowledge base that describes what kind of things an agent can deal with and how they are related to each other.
An example of a framework that implements a standard agent communication language (FIPA-ACL) is Jade
.
Knowledge Query and Manipulation Language
The Knowledge Query and Manipulation Language, or KQML, is a languageand protocol for communication among software agents and knowledge-based systems. It was...
(KQML) is another proposed standard.
The most popular ACLs are:
- FIPA-ACL (by the Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents, a standardization consortium)
- KQML (Knowledge Query and Manipulation Language)
Both rely on speech act
Speech act
Speech Act is a technical term in linguistics and the philosophy of language. The contemporary use of the term goes back to John L. Austin's doctrine of locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary acts...
theory developed by Searle
John Searle
John Rogers Searle is an American philosopher and currently the Slusser Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley.-Biography:...
in 1960 and enhanced by Winograd
Terry Winograd
Terry Allen Winograd is an American professor of computer science at Stanford University, and co-director of the Stanford Human-Computer Interaction Group...
and Flores
Fernando Flores
Carlos Fernando Flores Labra is a Chilean engineer, entrepreneur and politician. He is a former cabinet minister of president Salvador Allende and was senator for the Arica and Parinacota and Tarapacá regions between 2001 and 2009...
in the 1970s. They define a set of performatives and their meaning (e.g. ask-one). The content of the performative is not standardized, but varies from system to system.
To make agents understand each other they have to not only speak the same language, but also have a common ontology
Ontology (computer science)
In computer science and information science, an ontology formally represents knowledge as a set of concepts within a domain, and the relationships between those concepts. It can be used to reason about the entities within that domain and may be used to describe the domain.In theory, an ontology is...
. An ontology is a part of the agent's knowledge base that describes what kind of things an agent can deal with and how they are related to each other.
An example of a framework that implements a standard agent communication language (FIPA-ACL) is Jade
Java Agent Development Framework
Java Agent DEvelopment Framework, or JADE, is a software framework for multi-agent systems, in Java that has been in development since at least 2001...
.