The idea of this utility function is to let the angle at which you see your group members play a role in the utility. Here, we distinguish between using a cosine for the maximization – leading to maximum utility whenever an agent is directly looking at a group member and to minimum utility whenever the group member is directly behind the agent – and the sine – leading to maximum utility whenever the group members are directly besides the agent and to minimum utility whenever the agent is either directly behind the group member or the group member behind the agent.
Arguments
- b_vf
Numeric denoting the slope of the utility function.
- rel_angles
Numeric vector containing the relative angle from each cell center to the predicted positions of the group members. Typically output of
get_angles.- fx
Trigonometric function applied to the relative angles defining what their effect is (scaled by
b_vf). Defaults tocos, saying that the maximal utility stems from directly looking at a person (orientation 0). Alternative could besin, which maximizes the utility of looking at a person from right next to them (orientation 90).
Value
Numeric vector containing the utility attributed to keeping the group members within your visual field. Returns 0's if the agent does not have any additional group members.
See also
get_angles,
utility-agent,
vf_utility_discrete