Application of the GORITE BDI framework to human-autonomy teaming: A case study

Human-Autonomy Teaming (HAT) is of growing interest in the military sector, particularly in its application to war gaming using semi-automated computer generated forces (CGF). In these applications, one or more operators manage multiple semi-autonomous game entities. If effective collaboration (teaming) is to occur between operators and entities, then having effective interaction models is essential if the levels of trust and explanatory capability required for military operations are to be delivered. The Situation Awareness-Based Agent Transparency (SAT) Model has been identified as providing a suitable conceptual framework for such models. However, while the SAT model is informed by the Belief-Desire-Intention (BDI) model of agency, to date there has been no implementation of an interaction model at the level of desires and intentions, i.e. goals. In this paper, we propose that GORITE, a novel BDI framework that employs explicit goal representations and a shared data context for goal execution, provides a suitable platform for the development of SAT-enabled agents. The feasibility of this proposition is demonstrated through the development of a simple but representative CGF case study.