Third, context helps an agent focus its attention. Fourth, context influences an agent's choice of actions for a particular goal. The appropriateness of an action cannot be assessed apart from the context in which it is to occur. For example, the way one chooses to get a drink of water differs depending on whether one is at home, in a restaurant, or at a friend's. Fifth, context determines how an agent should handle unanticipated events.
Events have different meaning in different situations.
Seeing a red flashing light through your office window will affect you differently than seeing one in your rearview mirror while driving, both in terms of your heartrate and your reactions. For an autonomous agent such as an AUV, for which reactions must often be fast yet appropriate, it is crucial that some means exist for context to automatically condition the agent's responses to events. For example, when power is about to fail, an AUV will have very little time to choose its course of action, yet what is appropriate differs based on the situation.