Abstract
In multi-agent planning problems agents are requested to jointly solve a complex task consisting of a set of interrelated tasks. Since none of the agents is capable to solve the whole task on its own, usually each of them is assigned to a subset of tasks. If agents are dependent upon each other via interrelated tasks they are assigned to, moderately coupled teams of agents are called for. Such teams solve the task by coordinating during or after planning and revising their plans if necessary. In this paper we show that such complex tasks also can be solved by loosely coupled teams of agents that are able to plan independently, although the computational complexity of the coordination problems involved is high. We also investigate some of the factors influencing this complexity.
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Dias, M.B., Zlot, R.M., Kalra, N., Stentz, A.: Market-based multirobot coordination: A survey and analysis. Technical Report CMU-RI-TR-05-13, Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University (2005)
Kalra, N., Stentz, A., Ferguson, D.: Hoplites: A market framework for complex tight coordination in multi-agent teams. Technical Report CMU-RI-TR-04-41, Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University (2004)
Decker, K.S., Lesser, V.R.: Designing a family of coordination algorithms. In: Proc. of DAI, pp. 65–84 (1994)
Durfee, E.H., Lesser, V.R.: Partial global planning: A coordination framework for distributed hypothesis formation. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics 21(5), 1167–1183 (1991)
Ephrati, E., Rosenschein, J.S.: Multi-agent planning as the process of merging distributed sub-plans. In: Proc. of DAI, pp. 115–129 (1993)
Cox, J.S., Durfee, E.H.: Discovering and exploiting synergy between hierarchical planning agents. In: Proc. of AAMAS, pp. 281–288 (2003)
Foulser, D.E., Li, M., Yang, Q.: Theory and algorithms for plan merging. Artificial Intelligence Journal 57(2-3), 143–182 (1992)
von Martial, F.: Coordinating Plans of Autonomous Agents. Springer, Heidelberg (1992)
Moses, Y., Tennenholtz, M.: Artificial social systems. Computers and AI 14(6), 533–562 (1995)
Shoham, Y., Tennenholtz, M.: On social laws for artificial agent societies: Off-line design. Artificial Intelligence 73(1–2), 231–252 (1995)
Jennings, N.R.: Commitments and conventions: The foundation of coordination in multi-agent systems. The Knowledge Engineering Review 8(3), 223–250 (1993)
Zlot, R.M., Stentz, A.: Market-based multirobot coordination for complex tasks. International Journal of Robotics Research; Special Issue on the 4th International Conference on Field and Service Robotics 25(1), 73–101 (2006)
Zlot, R.M., Stentz, A.: Market-based multirobot coordination using task abstraction. In: Proc. of FSR (2003)
Buzing, P., ter Mors, A.W., Valk, J.M., Witteveen, C.: Coordinating self-interested planning agents. Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems 12(2) (2006)
Valk, J.M.: Coordination among Autonomous Planners. PhD thesis, Delft University of Technology (2005)
Steenhuisen, J.R., Witteveen, C.: Complexity studies in coordinating non-cooperative planning agents. Technical report, Delft University of Technology, Forthcoming (2006)
Hunsberger, L.: Group Decision Making and Temporal Reasoning. PhD thesis, Harvard University (2002)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2006 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Steenhuisen, J.R., Witteveen, C., ter Mors, A.W., Valk, J.M. (2006). Framework and Complexity Results for Coordinating Non-cooperative Planning Agents. In: Fischer, K., Timm, I.J., André, E., Zhong, N. (eds) Multiagent System Technologies. MATES 2006. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 4196. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/11872283_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/11872283_9
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-45376-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-46057-2
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)