[ACT-R-users] ActR multiple Agents

[toebsen b]

hey Dan,

Thanks for your fast reply! Creating a model with a defined List will come in handy, thanks!
Perhabs I give some further details about the Simulation. 
The recorded simulation contains cars driving on a highway. The simulation and Act-R are connected via TCP. 
Every Car should be controlled by an Cognitive "Agent", which models the lane changing behaviour, for example 
indicator on -> high Probability.
 For starters this model will be quite simple, but will get more develloped. For the scenario it would be nice,
if the models can be created during runtime. For now  a communication between the agents is not needed.
Every Agent should mind only its own "business" i.e. the only the cars directly around it.

About your questions:

> - Will the models communicate over the same channel sharing the device
> or does each model need a separate device?
I think a common device should suffice, for the agents. 

> - Are the models always going to be running together synchronously or
> will they need to be run individually?
They will run individually. I guess cycling through the existing models will do the trick.
There aren't any timing deadlines, so far.

Do you guys have any tips, how this could be achieved ?
Every hint is welcome.

Thanks in advance,

Tobias



> Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2011 10:20:22 -0400
> From: db30 at andrew.cmu.edu
> To: toebsen at hotmail.com; act-r-users at act-r.psy.cmu.edu
> Subject: Re: [ACT-R-users] ActR multiple Agents
> 
> 
> 
> --On Wednesday, August 24, 2011 12:04 PM +0000 toebsen b <toebsen at hotmail.com> wrote:
> 
> >
> > Hello ACT-R Community,
> >
> > Im currently trying to embed a C++ Simulation with ACT-R. I have a running Async TCP Server (via
> > BOOST-ASIO)  for the Communication
> > with ACT-R via a device ( like in http://www.zmms.tu-berlin.de/kogmod/tools/hello-java.html
> > Framework). The Communication works nicely.
> >
> > And now comes the not-so easy part: the Modeling in ACT-R:
> > Ok, I'm trying to get it right:
> > I need multiple "Agents", which communicate with the C++ Simulation (TCP) , and all should have
> > the same ACT-R Model.
> > How can i do that?
> >  My first guess would be to start as many ACT-R environments as I have agents and just set
> > different Ports for Communication and
> > parse them in C++ to the correct instance of my c++ agent.
> > But this seems quite an overkill if the ACT-R Instances go into the 10+
> >
> > Since I'm quite new to ACT-R, I do not know its complete capabilities.
> >
> > There has to be another Solution to this sort of problem?
> >
> 
> 
> It's possible to run multiple models simultaneously within a single instance
> of ACT-R.  There is a section in the reference manual (found in the docs
> directory of the distribution) which describes how to do so, and there are
> some examples found in the examples directory of the distribution.  Since
> you mention that you are new to ACT-R, I would also recommend working through
> the tutorial if you haven't already.  The tutorial doesn't cover multiple
> models, but should give you a solid understanding of how to use ACT-R for
> modeling which you won't get from the reference manual.
> 
> I can't really offer much in the way of specific advice because exactly
> how you want/need to set things up for multiple models depends on a couple
> of technical issues with how the simulation and models are expected to interact:
> 
> - Will the models communicate over the same channel sharing the device
> or does each model need a separate device?
> 
> - Are the models always going to be running together synchronously or
> will they need to be run individually?
> 
> One thing I can offer however is that since you say they are all going to be
> the same model, there is a way to create them that doesn't require writing
> the code again for each one.  The define-model command can be provided with
> a list of code to define the model.  Thus, if you create a list with the
> code for the model in it you can just pass that list to define-model to
> create more.  Again, the exact details will depend on what you need for
> the sim, but generally something like this could be done:
> 
> (defvar *model-code* '((sgp :v t) (p test ?goal> buffer empty ==>) ...))
> (define-model-fct 'model-1 *model-code*)
> (define-model-fct 'model-2 *model-code*)
> ...
> 
> 
> Hope that helps, and if you have other questions feel free to let me
> know.
> 
> Dan
 		 	   		  
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