Abstract
The types of relationships that arise between interacting
agents in a multi-agent system can greatly influence the effectiveness of the entire system. However, the behaviour of
agents cannot always be anticipated, especially when dealing
with open and complex systems. Such systems must incorporate relationship management mechanisms that attempt to
guide the behaviour of agents towards desired outcomes. To
effectively design such mechanisms, we must first be able to
identify the types of relationships that may emerge and how
they can be understood, when faced with the constraints and
opportunities presented by inter-agent relationships. We have
previously addressed this in the limited context of restricting
malicious behaviour through the application of regulations.
In this paper we generalise that model to identify and characterise a much broader range of relationships. This results in a
generic analysis tool, which can be used to achieve two crucial
tasks: to identify opportunities for more effective coordination
between agents; and to enable the analysis of the control that
agents can exert over their own goals in the context of such
relationships. Combining these types of analysis allows us to
identify conflicts and opportunities for cooperation in multiagent systems both at design time and at run-time, allowing
for finer-grained system control.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publication status | Published - 22 Aug 2004 |
| Event | ECAI 2004 Workshop in Coordination in Emerging Agent Societies - Valencia, Spain Duration: 22 Aug 2004 → 27 Aug 2004 |
Workshop
| Workshop | ECAI 2004 Workshop in Coordination in Emerging Agent Societies |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | Spain |
| City | Valencia |
| Period | 22/08/04 → 27/08/04 |