# Framework for Incorporating Artificial Somatic Markers in the Decision-Making of Autonomous Agents
## 4 Design of Artificial Somatic Markers for Decision-Making of Autonomous Agents
### Designing Algorithms for the Decision-Making of Autonomous Agents
Already on the outskirts of the city is located the famous Financial District (point \"K\"), known for its modern buildings with offices for financial services. This conceptual study case considers the existence of a tourist bus, which begins its journey at point \"A\", and must follow the following travel itinerary: A-C-G-H-J-K. The vehicle has an autonomous agent built into its computing and navigation system. This autonomous agent receives the travel itinerary to be followed during the day, the profile of the passengers transported (e.g., youth, senior citizens), and real-time information on the weather conditions and city vehicle traffic as the input data. It is capable of receiving voice messages from the driver, and at the same time, it delivers relevant information through audio and an interactive screen. The journey begins smoothly from the Tourist Agency which is the origin point \"A\". The profile of the passengers transported is \"foreign delegation\". The vehicle arrives safely at the Contemporary Museum, point \"C\". Tourists get out of the vehicle and visit the place. Upon leaving the museum, tourists enter the vehicle again, which at that time receives information about traffic congestion in the vicinity of the Archeology Museum (point \"G\"), the next destination to visit. This information represents an external stimulus for the autonomous agent, which recognizes a decision point of the \"threat\" type. It is interpreted in this way since the stimulus that is received risks the fulfillment of the autonomous agent's goals, specifically, complying with the travel itinerary and meeting the expectations of tourists. The autonomous agent determines courses of action by searching for past actions that are related to \"traffic congestion\" and \"foreign delegation\", observing in each case the emotional effect of the actions taken. Then, in the analysis of decision options, stimuli of the \"threat\" type have \"high priority\". Therefore, this type of stimulus receives rapid treatment through the generation of a reduced list of possible decision options. The aim is to select the decision option that offers greater confidence (in the service); that is, the decision that generates greater satisfaction or well-being to the tourists of the foreign delegation. Considering the above, the autonomous agent has several options: go directly to the next destination (point \"C\") under the risk that, considering the traffic congestion near the mentioned place, passengers spend a longer time in the vehicle without receiving greater service attention; keep all the tourist destinations of the travel itinerary but change the order of arrival to each place; eliminate the tourist destination under conflict from the travel itinerary (point \"C\"); and carry out an \"active pause\" where all passengers temporarily get off the vehicle, without modifying the tourist destinations of the travel itinerary. In the analysis of decision options, the option of changing the order of arrival is quickly discarded (it requires more analysis time), deriving a reduced list of decision options to the next process of decision selection and performing of the final decision. In this context, fast decision rules apply,

Figure 4: Map of a hypothetical city (Source: Own elaboration). particularly choosing an option that generates greater confidence in the service. The autonomous agent determines that the most appropriate option is to take an active pause, suggesting making a temporary stop at the \"Chocolate Factory\" while waiting for the traffic congestion problem to be solved in a reasonable period of time. The selection of this decision option is based on the fact that the Chocolate Factory has a high positive evaluation by tourists in online tourism systems. In particular, the own records of the autonomous agent indicate that visits to the Chocolate Factory have generated positive emotional effects in the past.