A dynamic measurement of agent autonomy in the layered adjustable autonomy model

Abstract

In a dynamically interactive systems that contain a mix of humans' and software agents' intelligence, managing autonomy is a challenging task. Giving an agent a complete control over its autonomy is a risky practice while manually setting the agent's autonomy level is an inefficient approach. In this paper, we propose an autonomy measurement mechanism and its related formulae for the Layered Adjustable Autonomy (LAA) model. Our model provides a mechanism that optimizes autonomy distribution, consequently, enabling global control of the autonomous agents that guides or even withholds them whenever necessary. This is achieved by formulating intervention rules on the agents' decision-making capabilities through autonomy measurement criteria. Our aim is to create an autonomy model that is flexible and reliable. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014.