Contract Net Protocol

About: Contract Net Protocol is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 606 publications have been published within this topic receiving 13729 citations.

Principles of practice in multi-agent systems : 12th International Conference, PRIMA 2009, Nagoya, Japan, December 14-16, 2009 : proceedings

Abstract: Technical Papers.- A Market-Based Multi-Issue Negotiation Model Considering Multiple Preferences in Dynamic E-Marketplaces.- Designing Protocols for Collaborative Translation.- An Affective Agent Playing Tic-Tac-Toe as Part of a Healing Environment.- A Multi-agent Model for Emotion Contagion Spirals Integrated within a Supporting Ambient Agent Model.- Statistical Utterance Selection Using Word Co-occurrence for a Dialogue Agent.- On the Impact of Witness-Based Collusion in Agent Societies.- Efficient Methods for Multi-agent Multi-issue Negotiation: Allocating Resources.- Token Based Resource Sharing in Heterogeneous Multi-agent Teams.- Gaia Agents Implementation through Models Transformation.- ONTOMO: Development of Ontology Building Service.- Syncretic Argumentation by Means of Lattice Homomorphism.- Adaptive Adjustment of Starting Price for Agents in Continuous Double Auctions.- SIM-MADARP: An Agent-Based Tool for Dial-a-Ride Simulation.- An Empirical Study of Agent Programs.- A Multiagent Model for Provider-Centered Trust in Composite Web Services.- Memory Complexity of Automated Trust Negotiation Strategies.- Layered Distributed Constraint Optimization Problem for Resource Allocation Problem in Distributed Sensor Networks.- NegoExplorer: A Region-Based Recursive Approach to Bilateral Multi-attribute Negotiation.- Applying User Feedback and Query Learning Methods to Multiple Communities.- An Adaptive Human-Aware Software Agent Supporting Attention-Demanding Tasks.- Designing a Two-Sided Matching Protocol under Asymmetric Information.- Emotion Detection from Body Motion of Human Form Robot Based on Laban Movement Analysis.- HoneySpam 2.0: Profiling Web Spambot Behaviour.- Multimedia Papers.- A Modeling Tool for Service-Oriented Open Multiagent Systems.- Analysis, Comparison and Selection of MAS Software Engineering Processes and Tools.- A Synchronous Model of Mental Rhythm Using Paralanguage for Communication Robots.- Generating Association-Based Motion through Human-Robot Interaction.- SmartContractor: A Distributed Task Assignment System Based on the Simple Contract Net Protocol.- Participatory Simulation Environment gumonji/Q: A Network Game Empowered by Agents.- Industrial Papers.- A Multi-Agent System Based Approach to Intelligent Process Automation Systems.- Non-equity Joints among Small and Medium Enterprises and Innovation Management: An Empirical Analysis Based on Simulation.- Wide-Area Traffic Simulation Based on Driving Behavior Model.- An Agent-Based Framework for Healthcare Support System.- Interpolation System of Traffic Condition by Estimation/Learning Agents.- Poster Papers.- A Fuzzy Rule-Based System for Ontology Mapping.- Where Are All the Agents? On the Gap between Theory and Practice of Agent-Based Referral Networks.- SADE: A Development Environment for Adaptive Multi-Agent Systems.- Recursive Adaptation of Stepsize Parameter for Non-stationary Environments.- Mechanism Design Simulation for Healthcare Reform in China.- Case Learning in CBR-Based Agent Systems for Ship Collision Avoidance.- An Adaptive Agent Model for Emotion Reading by Mirroring Body States and Hebbian Learning.- Agent Evacuation Simulation Using a Hybrid Network and Free Space Models.- Designing Agent Behaviour in Agent-Based Simulation through Participatory Method.- Influence of Social Networks on Recovering Large Scale Distributed Systems.- Dynamic Evolution of Role Taxonomies through Multidimensional Clustering in Multiagent Organizations.- Adaptation and Validation of an Agent Model of Functional State and Performance for Individuals.- A Cooperation Trading Method with Hybrid Traders.- GPGCloud: Model Sharing and Execution Environment Service for Simulation of International Politics and Economics.- Creating and Using Reputation-Based Agreements in Organisational Environments.- Directory Service in the Language Grid for System Integration.- SBDO: A New Robust Approach to Dynamic Distributed Constraint Optimisation.- Evacuation Planning Assist System with Network Model-Based Pedestrian Simulator.

Formalising the contract net as a goal-directed system

Abstract: In response to the problems that have arisen regarding the terminology and concepts of agent-oriented systems, previous work has described a formal framework for understanding agency and autonomy. In this paper we outline the framework and refine it by adding further levels of detail to develop a formal model of the Contract Net Protocol. The model serves to make precise both the operations of nodes in the contract net, and the state of the net at various points during the protocol. In particular, the nature of the dependencies between the nodes in the net is explicated. Finally, we generalise the relationships that can be found in the contract net which are brought out by the formalisation, and introduce more general concepts such as cooperation and engagement.

Integrated multi-agent system framework: decentralised search, tasking and tracking

Abstract: This study is concerned with integrated target search, tasking and tracking using multiple fixed-wing unmanned air vehicles (UAVs). The problem is to design control logic and optimise flight paths for UAVs. The fixed-wing UAVs are required to cooperatively search the potential targets in the area of operation (AO) and keep monitoring and tracking the found targets according to a certain predefined minimal revisit time. Each UAV can only communicate with its neighbours and also flight autonomy is designed for individual UAVs. High level control logic based on finite state automaton model, integrating the four modes of operations, that is, take-off mode, fly-to-AO mode, search mode and tracking mode, is developed. For the target search, an improved decentralised coverage based algorithm is designed for fixed-wing UAVs. Task assignment is developed based on contract net protocol. For the target tracking, the optimal paths are derived for the UAVs to continuously monitoring multiple static targets. The developed integrated multi-agent system is evaluated by a hybrid three-dimensional simulation system using a real miniature fixed-wing UAV dynamic model.

Peer to peer transactions in agent-mediated electronic commerce

Abstract: This thesis proposes a new approach to electronic markets that overcomes the shortcomings of existing electronic markets through software agent-driven, peer-to-peer, iterative negotiations. Contemporary electronic markets commonly capture both the customs and shortcomings of traditional practice. Rule-based and bound to traditional models, contemporary electronic markets are overly controlling, segregated, inflexible, weakly automated and fixated on price. Many prior attempts to interpose electronic exchanges in existing markets have failed or encountered resistance from traders. Traders’ resistance is interpreted here as a call for systems that bend to the will of traders while channeling self-interested actions toward healthy market practices. The Atomic Market is both a model for an agent-based, peer-to-peer marketplace, and a working system that shows the model in operation. The Atomic Market architecture defines a decentralized marketplace wholly controlled by traders through a new protocol for distributed negotiation. The demonstration system is a collection of independent software agents that pursue economic exchanges via the Atomic Market methodology. In the Atomic Market, multiple agents resolve their self-interests though cycles of rewriting a “contract” comprised of descriptive, flexible terms tailored to the needs of each trader. The Atomic Market interprets the Contract Net Protocol as a message-passing system for economic negotiations, in which agents conduct broad, parallel searches to discover opportunities and trading partners in an open marketplace.

Achieving Efficient Cooperation in a Multi-Agent System: the Twin-Base Modeling

Abstract: The Virtual Secretary 2 project (ViSe2) focuses on the construction of a multi-agent cooperation system As a research vehicle, we have chosen to build intelligent agents that perform secretarial tasks for their users either by themselves or via cooperation An individual ViSe2 agent has limited knowledge and problem-solving capabilities To act better for its user, the agent interacts with other peers to solve problems In this sense, an agent's ability to reason about the other agents' activities and thus find the peer becomes a key issue In this paper, we propose a twin-base (cooperator-base ⊎ task-base) modeling for efficient cooperation in a small agent group The cooperator-base collects stable information of the others and acts as an auxiliary base to the task-base The task-base provides direct mappings between tasks and relevant expert agents that can perform such tasks A capability revision process is proposed for keeping the mapping information consistent With such twin-base modeling, when an agent receives a task that is beyond its capabilities, the agent can directly retrieve the best qualified peer from its task-base, and ask the peer to perform the task To test the validation of the twin-base modeling, we have implemented a prototype of ViSe2 multi-agent cooperation system The experimental results show that the system achieves the anticipated functionality: an individual agent performs the user's task by either retrieving results from its local knowledge base system, or consulting peer agents to take over the job More precisely, to verify our intuition that the twin-base modeling achieves efficient cooperation, we compare the performance of our model with other cooperation approaches, ie, the contract net protocol [2], the assisted coordination approach [4], and the acquaintance model approach [14, 7] Results received so far indicate that our method achieves the most efficient cooperation with high on-line performance