Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Making model checking feasible for GOAL

  • Published:
Annals of Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Agent Programming Languages have been studied for over 20 years for programming complex decision-making for autonomous systems. The GOAL agent programming language is particularly interesting since it depends on automated planning based on beliefs and goals to determine behavior rather than preprogrammed planning by developers. Model checking is a powerful verification technique to guarantee the safety of an autonomous system. Despite studies of model checking in other agent programming languages, GOAL lacks support for model checking of GOAL programs. The fundamental challenge is to make GOAL programs feasible for model checking. In this paper, we tackle this fundamental issue. First, we formalize the syntax and semantics of the logic underpinning stratified single-agent GOAL programs. Second, we devise an algorithm for transforming a stratified single-agent GOAL program to a transition system that is equivalent in terms of operational semantics, enabling model checking. Third, we develop an automated translator for a stratified single-agent GOAL program. The translator consists of (1) the automated transformation of a GOAL program into its operational semantically equivalent transition system, and (2) the interface generation of the generated transition system into a Prism model, an input for two probabilistic symbolic model checkers: Storm and Prism. Moreover, we point out that we will extend the applicability of the transformation algorithm and its implementation to all stratified GOAL programs.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Data Availability Statement

The implementation of the automated translator for GOAL is available at https://github.com/AnonymousSubm/Automated_Translator. For the source code of the GOAL implementation of our case study (Blocks world), we refer to the GOAL example project Tower provided in the Eclipse plugin for GOAL.

References

  1. Baier, C., Katoen, J.P.: Principles of model checking. MIT press (2008)

  2. de Boer, F.S., Hindriks, K.V., van der Hoek, W., Meyer, J.J.C.: A verification framework for agent programming with declarative goals. J. Appl. Log. 5(2), 277–302 (2007)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  3. Bordini, R.H., Fisher, M., Pardavila, C., Wooldridge, M.: Model checking agentspeak. In: Proceedings of the second international joint conference on autonomous agents and multiagent systems, pp. 409–416 (2003)

  4. Budde, C.E., Hartmanns, A., Klauck, M., Křetínskỳ, J., Parker, D., Quatmann, T., Turrini, A., Zhang, Z.: On correctness, precision, and performance in quantitative verification. In: International symposium on leveraging applications of formal methods, pp. 216–241. Springer (2020)

  5. Dehnert, C., Junges, S., Katoen, J.P., Volk, M.: A storm is coming: a modern probabilistic model checker. In: International conference on computer aided verification, pp. 592–600. Springer (2017)

  6. Dennis, L.A., Fisher, M.: Programming verifiable heterogeneous agent systems. In: International workshop on programming multi-agent systems, pp. 40–55. Springer (2008)

  7. Dennis, L.A., Fisher, M., Webster, M.P., Bordini, R.H.: Model checking agent programming languages. Autom. Softw. Eng. 19(1), 5–63 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Guiochet, J., Machin, M., Waeselynck, H.: Safety-critical advanced robots: a survey. Robot. Auton. Syst. 94, 43–52 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Hindriks, K.V.: Programming rational agents in goal. In: Multi-agent programming, pp. 119–157. Springer (2009)

  10. Jensen, A.B., Hindriks, K.V., Villadsen, J.: On using theorem proving for cognitive agent-oriented programming. In: 13th International conference on agents and artificial intelligence, pp. 446–453. Science and Technology Publishing (2021)

  11. Jongmans, S.: Model checking goal agents. https://repository.tudelft.nl/islandora/object/uuid:25d88441-7ecb-4327-9271-19fc76fb0a61?collection=education (2010)

  12. Kwiatkowska, M., Norman, G., Parker, D.: Prism: Probabilistic symbolic model checker. In: International conference on modelling techniques and tools for computer performance evaluation, pp. 200–204. Springer (2002)

  13. Nipkow, T., Paulson, L.C., Wenzel, M.: Isabelle/HOL: a proof assistant for higher-order logic, vol. 2283. Springer Science & Business Media (2002)

  14. Parida, S., Franz, M., Abanteriba, S., Mallavarapu, S.: Autonomous driving cars: future prospects, obstacles, user acceptance and public opinion. In: International conference on applied human factors and ergonomics, pp. 318–328. Springer (2018)

  15. Sergot, M.: Stratified logic programs, lecture notes in 491 knowledge representation (January 2005)

  16. Shoham, Y.: Agent-oriented programming. Artif. Intell. 60(1), 51–92 (1993)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  17. Vaidya, S., Ambad, P., Bhosle, S.: Industry 4.0–a glimpse. Procedia manufacturing 20, 233–238 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Wooldridge, M., Fisher, M., Huget, M.P., Parsons, S.: Model checking multi-agent systems with mable. In: Proceedings of the first international joint conference on autonomous agents and multiagent systems: part 2, pp. 952–959 (2002)

  19. Yang., Y.: Automated translator for autonomous decision-making. https://github.com/YiYangKUL/Automated_Translator (2022)

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research is partially funded by the Research Fund KU Leuven.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. KU Leuven, Dept. of Computer Science, imec-DistriNet, B-3001, Leuven, Belgium

    Yi Yang & Tom Holvoet

Authors
  1. Yi Yang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Tom Holvoet
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yi Yang.

Ethics declarations

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest

The authors have no competing interests to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Yang, Y., Holvoet, T. Making model checking feasible for GOAL. Ann Math Artif Intell (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10472-023-09898-3

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10472-023-09898-3

Keywords

Mathematics Subject Classification (2010)

Search

Navigation