PEAS Description of Task Environment
PEAS description of the “online shopping agent”
We need to describe the PEAS for the “shopping for DataWarehousing
books on the internet” activity.
Performance measures:
Price of the book
Author of the book
Quality of the book
Book reviews on google.
Obtain interested/desired books.
Cost minimization.
Environment:
Internet websites.
Web pages of a particular website
Vendors/Sellers
Shippers
Actuators:
Filling in the forms.
Display to the user
Follow URL
Sensors:
Keyboard entry
Browser used to find web pages
HTML
Further, we shall see the properties of this agent.
1. Observable (Fully or Partial): This environment is partially observable.
When an agent can’t determine the complete state of the environment at all
points of time, then it is called a partially observable environment.
Here, the shopping agent can’t see all types of books on one webpage. For
example, on the current webpage, all the books have similar ratings and
prices. If the user wants to see the books with high ratings then the agent
has to follow a different webpage or set the filter in the search bar. Thus, the
agent is interacting with a partially observable environment.
2. Deterministic or non-deterministic: The environment is deterministic. A
task environment is said to be deterministic if the current state and actions
performed in the current state completely determines the next state,
otherwise, it will be a non-deterministic task environment.
Here, if the shopping agent likes a book and wants to purchase it, then the
next state will be followed for the same book. The next stages will be:
payment, filling in the delivery address, and order confirmation. The agent
will make the payment for the selected book only. Thus, the next state is
determined by the current state.
3. Episodic/Sequential: This is a sequential environment. An environment is
said to be episodic if it consists of independent episodes and actions
performed in one episode don’t affect the other episodes. In a sequential
environment, the actions performed in the current state will affect the next
states.
Here, if the current book is rejected by the agent then the agent will not see
the same book again. The webpage will not show the same book again, once
it is rejected by the agent. Therefore, the action in the current state
completely changed the next possible state.
4. Static/Dynamic: It is a static environment. An environment is static if it
does not change over time. A car driving environment is dynamic because
vehicles are running continuously. The agent doesn’t know what is going to
come next. But in the static environment, a particular state is completely
unchangeable over time, like a web page.
Here, the details of the books or the list of the books displayed on the
website is not going to change over time. Details of the book don’t depend
on the actions of the agent.
5. Discrete/Continuous: It is a discrete environment. An environment is
discrete if it consists of a finite number of states. A chess-playing
environment is discrete while the car driving environment is continuous.
Here, the number of states is finite. The possible states are:
See the book details
See the price
Fill the form
Place the order and make payment.
6. Single-agent/Multi-agent: It is a single-agent system. Only one agent is
interacting with the environment and no other robots or AI agent is present in
the environment. An environment is said to be a single agent environment if
only one agent is interacting and acting on it, otherwise multi-agent. A chess-
playing environment is multi-agent since two agents (human or robot) are
required to play the chess game.
