Argus

Logo designed by Charissa Pacada

Description

Argus is a custom Minecraft mod for BDI agents to interact with each other in a multi-agent environment. In this environment, the agents act as NPCs with the goal of surviving the zombie attack and collecting as many points as possible. The agents can work together to fight the zombies and/or build houses to hide from them.

Beliefs

External Beliefs (Perceptions)

Perception	Meaning
type(_)	the agent type
woodsChopped(_)	the number of woods chopped by the agent
buildRequirement(house, _)	the number of woods needed to build a house
buildRequirement(sword, _)	the number of woods needed to build a sword
buildRequirement(axe, _)	the number of woods needed to build an axe
buildRequirement(trident, _)	the number of woods needed to build a trident
zombieDefenceLimit(_)	the number of zombies the agent can take on at once
allPlayers([_, ..., _])	the list of current players in the game
near(tree)	the agent is near a tree
near(zombie, _)	the agent is near zombies (second parameter indicates the count)
near(player, [_, ..., _])	the agent is near player (second parameter indicates the list of players)
houseCount(_)	the number of houses available to the player
hiding	the agent is hiding in a house
health(_)	the agent's current health (between 0 and 1)
hasWeapon(_)	the agent has a weapon. Parameter indicates the weapon type
damagedBy(_)	the agent took damage from the given entity

Internal Beliefs

Belief	Meaning
lowHealthThreshold(_)	the agent considers this a low health
searchTimeout(_)	how long the agent should conduct a search for
buildRequirement(donation, _)	the agent's donation limit
ally(_)	the agent is an ally with the agent

Desires

Desire	Meaning
!broadcast(_, _)	send a message of given type and content to all players
!sendToGroup(_, _, _)	send a message to a given group of people with a given type and content
!loop	the agent's main logic loop

Actions

Action	Meaning
say(_)	the agent sends a message to the logs
find(_)	find and navigate to a specific parameter (tree, zombie, [player])
chop_wood	the agent chops a tree
escape	the agent jumps to a random location
attack(_)	the agent attacks a random entity (zombie, [player]) if nearby
build(_)	the agent builds an object (house, sword, axe, and trident)
enter_house	the agent goes to the house
leave_house	the agent leaves the house
donate_wood(_)	the agent donates a certain amount of wood
receive(_, _)	the agent either receives (wood, count) or (house, from)

Messages

Message	Type	Meaning
wantAlliance(_)	askIf	the asking agent wants an alliance
allianceConfirmation(_)	tell	the agent formed an alliance
endAlliance(_)	tell	the agent ends an alliance
hasHouse(_)	tell	the agent announces they have a house
need(_)	askIf	the asking agent needs something
donated(_, _)	tell	the agent donated a number of woods to the agent

Demos!

You can find demos of Argus here!

Installation

1. Get Minecraft Java Edition
2. Install IntelliJ IDEA (recommended!)
3. Install IntelliJ Mincecraft plugin
4. Get Citizens plugin
5. Get CommandHelper plugin
6. Compile the project to create the run folder:

gradle runServer

7. Configure the server:

cp config/server.properties run/server.properties
cp config/eula.txt run/eula.txt

8. Copy the plugin jars you downloaded in steps 4 & 5 to run/plugins:

mv Citizens*.jar commandhelper*.jar run/plugins

9. Re-run the server to populate the plugin config folders:

gradle runServer

10. Configure the plugins:

cp config/Citizens/config.yml run/plugins/Citizens/config.yml
cp config/CommandHelper/main.ms run/plugins/CommandHelper/main.ms

Running Argus

1. Launch Minecraft
2. Select Multiplayer
3. Create a server for Argus if one does not already exist:
   • Click Add Server
   • Put Argus for the Server Name
   • Put localhost for the Server Address
   • Click Done
4. Launch the server:

gradle runServer

(Argus should now show up as available in the list of servers) 5. Join the server!

Using Argus

• The games will by default run for 1.5 minutes. You can see what agent is doing in the chat log and inside your terminal.
• To navigate the level use WASD. Use space to move the camera up and shift to move the camera down.
• If you want to stop the game simply type /stop in the Minecraft chat window (you can launch the window by pressing T or /).

Running Experiments

• Modify the main.ms script under run/plugins/CommandHelper with the appropriate setup (alliances of size 1, 2, and 4).
• Run the experiment:

./run_experiment.sh

For existing experiment results and data please navigate to the data_analysis folder

Notes

The name Argus is a nod to the previous major AgentSpeak projects namely, Jason and Peleus. The name Argus was chosen since this environment allows BDI agents to build weapons and houses!