{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,11]],"date-time":"2025-12-11T13:07:07Z","timestamp":1765458427285,"version":"3.46.0"},"reference-count":29,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,8]],"date-time":"2025-12-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1765152000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Algorithms"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This paper extends Rodney Brooks\u2019 subsumption architecture into the era of Agentic AI by replacing its priority arbiter with a Generative Orchestrator that performs semantic mediation\u2014interpreting heterogeneous agent outputs and integrating them into a coherent action rather than merely arbitrating among them. Brooks\u2019 original model (1986) demonstrated that autonomous behavior can emerge from parallel reactive layers without symbolic representation, establishing principles later recognized as foundational to agentic systems: environmental responsiveness, autonomy, and goal-directed action. Contemporary Agentic AI, however, requires capabilities beyond mechanical response\u2014decision-making, adaptive strategy, and goal pursuit. We therefore reinterpret subsumption layers as four interacting agent types: reflex, model-based, goal-based, and utility-based, coordinated through semantic mediation. The Generative Orchestrator employs large language models not for content generation but for decision synthesis, enabling integrative agentic behavior. This approach merges real-time responsiveness with interpretive capacity for learning, reasoning, and explanation. An autonomous driving case study demonstrates how the architecture sustains behavioral autonomy while generating human-interpretable rationales for its actions. Validation was conducted through a Python-based proof-of-concept on an NVIDIA platform, reproducing the scenario to evaluate and confirm the architecture. This framework delineates a practical pathway toward advancing autonomous agents from reactive control to fully Agentic AI systems capable of operating in open, uncertain environments.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/a18120773","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,8]],"date-time":"2025-12-08T15:30:07Z","timestamp":1765207807000},"page":"773","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["From Subsumption to Semantic Mediation: A Generative Orchestration Architecture for Autonomous Systems"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"given":"Andrei","family":"Kojukhov","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Computer Science, Holon Institute of Technology, Holon 5810201, Israel"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0298-4547","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ilya","family":"Levin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Computer Science, Holon Institute of Technology, Holon 5810201, Israel"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Arkady","family":"Bovshover","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Computer Science, Holon Institute of Technology, Holon 5810201, Israel"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,8]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"14","DOI":"10.1109\/JRA.1986.1087032","article-title":"A robust layered control system for a mobile robot","volume":"2","author":"Brooks","year":"1986","journal-title":"IEEE J. Robot. Autom."},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"Wu, X., Li, L., Zeng, Q., Xu, C., and Wang, W. (2023). AutoGen: Enabling next-gen LLM applications via multi-agent conversation framework. arXiv."},{"key":"ref_3","first-page":"245","article-title":"AI agents: Evolution, architecture, and real-world applications","volume":"4","author":"Zhang","year":"2023","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Artif. Intell."},{"key":"ref_4","unstructured":"Wei, J., Kollar, T., Xie, S., Tossou, P., Ma, H., Hu, S.X., and Chi, E.H. (2025). From AI for science to agentic science: A survey on autonomous scientific discovery. arXiv."},{"key":"ref_5","unstructured":"Finelli, Z.N. (2025, October 28). Examining the Validity, Verity, and Relevance of Rodney A. Brooks\u2019s Argument Against the Necessity of Representation in Intelligent Systems. The Classic Journal, Available online: https:\/\/theclassicjournal.uga.edu\/index.php\/classic\/article\/view\/519."},{"key":"ref_6","first-page":"84","article-title":"AI agents vs. agentic AI: A conceptual taxonomy, applications and challenges","volume":"66","author":"Singh","year":"2023","journal-title":"Commun. ACM"},{"key":"ref_7","unstructured":"Chase, H. (2025, October 17). LangChain: Building Applications with LLMs Through Composability. Available online: https:\/\/github.com\/hwchase17\/langchain."},{"key":"ref_8","unstructured":"Microsoft (2025, October 17). Semantic Kernel: Orchestrating AI, Plugins, and Data for Intelligent Applications. Available online: https:\/\/github.com\/microsoft\/semantic-kernel."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Moore, D.J. (2025). A taxonomy of hierarchical multi-agent systems: Design patterns, coordination mechanisms, and industrial applications. arXiv.","DOI":"10.2139\/ssrn.5544755"},{"key":"ref_10","unstructured":"Wooldridge, M. (2009). An Introduction to MultiAgent Systems, Wiley. [2nd ed.]."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1104","DOI":"10.1109\/TC.1980.1675516","article-title":"The contract net protocol: High-level communication and control in a distributed problem solver","volume":"C-29","author":"Smith","year":"1980","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Comput."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1613\/jair.2","article-title":"A market-oriented programming environment and its application to distributed multicommodity flow problems","volume":"1","author":"Wellman","year":"1993","journal-title":"J. Artif. Intell. Res."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"251","DOI":"10.1016\/0004-3702(85)90063-3","article-title":"A blackboard architecture for control","volume":"26","year":"1985","journal-title":"Artif. Intell."},{"key":"ref_14","unstructured":"Ephrati, E., and Rosenschein, J.S. (1991, January 14\u201319). The Clarke tax as a consensus mechanism among automated agents. Proceedings of the AAAI-91 Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Anaheim, CA, USA."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Sapkota, R., Roumeliotis, K.I., and Karkee, M. (2025). AI agents vs. agentic AI: A conceptual taxonomy. arXiv.","DOI":"10.70777\/si.v2i3.15161"},{"key":"ref_16","unstructured":"Botti, V. (2025). Agentic AI and multiagentic: Are we reinventing the wheel?. arXiv."},{"key":"ref_17","unstructured":"Romero, O.J., Zimmerman, J., Steinfeld, A., and Tomasic, A. (2023, January 6\u20138). Synergistic integration of LLMs and cognitive architectures: Opportunities and challenges. Proceedings of the AAAI Fall Symposium Series (FSS-23), Arlington, VA, USA."},{"key":"ref_18","unstructured":"Russell, S.J., and Norvig, P. (2020). Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach, Pearson. [4th ed.]."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Deshpande, A., and Magerko, B. (2024, January 11\u201316). Embracing Embodied Social Cognition in AI: Moving Away from Computational Theory of Mind. Proceedings of the CHI \u201924 Extended Abstracts, Honolulu, HI, USA.","DOI":"10.1145\/3613905.3650998"},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Elgin, C.Z. (2025). Epistemic Ecology, MIT Press.","DOI":"10.7551\/mitpress\/15707.001.0001"},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Mamie, N., and Rao, S.X. (2025). The Society of HiveMind: Multi-Agent Optimization of Foundation Model Swarms to Unlock the Potential of Collective Intelligence. arXiv.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-981-95-0982-9_20"},{"key":"ref_22","unstructured":"Li, L., Wu, X., and Jiang, Y. (2023). CAMEL: Communicative agents for \u201cmind\u201d exploration of large language model society. arXiv."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Wu, D., Wei, X., Chen, G., Shen, H., Wang, X., Li, W., and Jin, B. (2025). Generative multi-agent collaboration in embodied AI: A systematic review. arXiv.","DOI":"10.24963\/ijcai.2025\/1190"},{"key":"ref_24","unstructured":"Maruyama, H., Chin, S., Anwar, Z., Awan, A., Qureshi, U.H., and Zakria, M. (2025). A Concurrent Modular Agent: Framework for Autonomous LLM Agents (CMA). arXiv."},{"key":"ref_25","unstructured":"Newell, A., and Simon, H.A. (1972). Human Problem Solving, Prentice-Hall."},{"key":"ref_26","unstructured":"Tallam, K. (2025). From Autonomous Agents to Integrated Systems: A New Paradigm\u2014Orchestrated Distributed Intelligence. arXiv."},{"key":"ref_27","first-page":"EL_15_2_04","article-title":"Multilayered Evolutionary Architecture for Behaviour Arbitration in Cognitive Agents","volume":"15","author":"Romero","year":"2007","journal-title":"Eng. Lett."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Hutchins, E. (1995). Cognition in the Wild, MIT Press.","DOI":"10.7551\/mitpress\/1881.001.0001"},{"key":"ref_29","unstructured":"Buchholz, M., Carlucho, I., Grimaldi, M., and Petillot, Y.R. (2025). Distributed AI agents for cognitive underwater robot autonomy (UROSA). arXiv."}],"container-title":["Algorithms"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1999-4893\/18\/12\/773\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,11]],"date-time":"2025-12-11T13:01:22Z","timestamp":1765458082000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1999-4893\/18\/12\/773"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,8]]},"references-count":29,"journal-issue":{"issue":"12","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,12]]}},"alternative-id":["a18120773"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/a18120773","relation":{},"ISSN":["1999-4893"],"issn-type":[{"type":"electronic","value":"1999-4893"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,8]]}}}