From porter@cs.utexas.edu Wed Dec 20 09:39:46 2000 Return-Path: Received: from blv-av-01.boeing.com (blv-av-01.boeing.com [192.54.3.60]) by redwood.rt.cs.boeing.com (8.8.8+Sun/RDS-1.0-B2) with ESMTP id JAA07374 for ; Wed, 20 Dec 2000 09:39:45 -0800 (PST) Received: from blv-hub-01.boeing.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by blv-av-01.boeing.com (8.9.3/8.9.2) with ESMTP id JAA19204 for ; Wed, 20 Dec 2000 09:39:48 -0800 (PST) Received: from blv-smtpin-01.boeing.com by blv-hub-01.boeing.com with ESMTP for clarkp@redwood.rt.cs.boeing.com; Wed, 20 Dec 2000 09:39:33 -0800 Received: from cs.utexas.edu (root@[128.83.139.9]) by blv-smtpin-01.boeing.com (8.9.2/8.9.0-M2) with ESMTP id JAA09120 for ; Wed, 20 Dec 2000 09:39:32 -0800 (PST) Received: from firewheel.cs.utexas.edu (porter@firewheel.cs.utexas.edu [128.83.120.210]) by cs.utexas.edu (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id LAA19023; Wed, 20 Dec 2000 11:39:24 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Porter Received: (from porter@localhost) by firewheel.cs.utexas.edu (8.9.3/8.9.3) id LAA20781; Wed, 20 Dec 2000 11:39:24 -0600 (CST) Message-Id: <200012201739.LAA20781@firewheel.cs.utexas.edu> Subject: today's telecon To: clarkp@redwood.rt.cs.boeing.com (Peter Clark) Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2000 11:39:24 -0600 (CST) Cc: porter@cs.utexas.edu (Bruce Porter), kbarker@cs.utexas.edu (Ken Barker), tecuci@cs.utexas.edu (Dan Tecuci), pzyeh@cs.utexas.edu (Peter Yeh), jfan@cs.utexas.edu (James Fan), john.thompson@pss.boeing.com (John Thompson) In-Reply-To: <200012201546.HAA06991@thumper.rt.cs.boeing.com> from "Peter Clark" at Dec 20, 2000 07:46:56 AM X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.5 PL2] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Length: 3878 Status: OR Hi Folks, I'm attaching a note on representing the larger context of an action. I hope we can discuss it today. Thanks! -Bruce -- Bruce Porter (porter@cs.utexas.edu) Department of Computer Science tel: (512) 471-9565 University of Texas at Austin fax: (512) 471-8885 Austin, Texas, 78712, USA. URL: http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/porter -- OVERVIEW: This note explores the use of a schema to package together information associated (however loosely) with an action. This information might include: - teleology (why the agent does the action) - prepatory steps (which achieve preconditions for the action) - during conditions (which hold while the action is underway) - typical interrupts (which might occur during the action) and how the agent handles them - possible outcomes of the action (not all of which are intended by the agent) A FIRST EXAMPLE: PRODUCE As an illustrative example, let's explore the action of Produce, a kind of Create in which raw-material is converted into product. What might we want to say about Produce? (Note that most of this information would come from superclasses of Produce, such as Create and Process.) teleology: the agent desires to create the product because the agent values the product more highly than the raw materials and energy that will be consumed in its production. prepatory steps: the agent gets control of the raw materials, energy, and instruments required for the production and brings them together at the production site. The agent then initiates the production action, which might involve special actions, such as "starting the production machinery". during conditions: this describes the continuous activity of production, which might include these qualitative influences: - amount of product increases with time - amount of raw material decreases with time - amount of energy decreases with time typical interrupts: during the course of production, various situations might arise, each requiring some response: situation response --------------------------------------------------------------------- exhaust raw materials agent gets more raw materials exhaust energy agent gets more energy instrument fails repair or replace instrument over-production decrease the rate of production under-production increase the rate of production normal termination condition: the agent's desired level of product is produced. abnormal termination conditions: - the production process can't resume from some interrupt A SECOND EXAMPLE: ENTER The schema for Produce collected together quite a bit of information. However, maybe this success was due to the fact that Produce is not as simple "an atom" as the actions we're currently focusing on. Let's try a simpler action: Enter. teleology: the agent desires to change location, most likely to be located inside the-enclosure. prepatory steps: the agent moves to a portal of the-enclosure. (A portal is a hole in the enclosure wall - Pat Hayes). during conditions: the discrete subevents of Enter are these: 1) the agent enters the portal from the space outside the-enclosure 2) the agent passes through the portal (viewing the portal, a hole, as a path, i.e. a region of space.) 3) the agent exits the portal into the enclosed space of the-enclosure Each of these move's might have a continuous counterpart, which might include these qualitative influences: - the object's distance from the source location increases with time - the object's distance from the destination decreases with time - the object's distance from the path is constant over time interrupts: (ab-)normal terminations: