Editing Autonomous agent (section)

== Definitions ==
There are various definitions of autonomous agent. According to Brustoloni (1991):

{{Blockquote | "Autonomous agents are systems capable of autonomous, purposeful action in the real world."<ref name="Brustoloni"/>}}

According to Maes (1995):

{{Blockquote | "Autonomous agents are computational systems that inhabit some complex dynamic environment, sense and act autonomously in this environment, and by doing so realize a set of goals or tasks for which they are designed."<ref name="Maes"/>}}

Franklin and Graesser (1997) review different definitions and propose their definition:

{{Blockquote | "An autonomous agent is a system situated within and a part of an environment that senses that environment and acts on it, over time, in pursuit of its own agenda and so as to effect what it senses in the future."<ref name="FranklinGraesser" /> }}

They explain that:

{{Blockquote | "Humans and some animals are at the high end of being an agent, with multiple, conflicting drives, multiples senses, multiple possible actions, and complex sophisticated control structures. At the low end, with one or two senses, a single action, and an absurdly simple control structure we find a thermostat."<ref name="FranklinGraesser" /> }}