Abstract
The subject of multi-agent planning has been of continuing concern in Distributed Artificial Intelligence (DAI). In this paper, we suggest an approach to the interleaving of execution and planning for dynamic tasks by groups of multiple agents. Agents are dynamically assigned individual tasks that together achieve some dynamically changing global goal. Each agent solves (constructs the plan for) its individual task, then the local plans are merged to determine the next activity step of the entire group in its attempt to accomplish the global goal. Individual tasks may be changed during execution (due to changes in the global goal).
The suggested approach reduces overall planning time and derives a plan that approximates the optimal global plan that would have been derived by a central planner.
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
D. Chapman. Planning for conjunctive goals. Artificial Intelligence, 32(3):333–377, July 1987.
D. Corkill. Hierarchical planning in a distributed environment. In Proceedings of the Sixth International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, pages 168–175, Tokyo, August 1979.
E. H. Durfee and V. R. Lesser. Using partial global plans to coordinate distributed problem solvers. In Proceedings of the Tenth International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, pages 875–883, Milan, 1987.
E. H. Durfee and V. R. Lesser. Negotiating task decomposition and allocation using partial global planning. In Les Gasser and Michael N. Huhns, editors, Distributed Artificial Intelligence, Vol. II, pages 229–243. Morgan Kaufmann, San Mateo, California, 1989.
Edmund H. Durfee. Coordination of Distributed Problem Solvers. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, 1988.
E. Ephrati and J. S. Rosenschein. Distributed Consensus Mechanisms for Self-interested Heterogeneous Agents. In First International Conference on Intelligent and Cooperative Information Systems, pages 71–79, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, May 1993.
E. Ephrati and J. S. Rosenschein. Reaching agreement through partial revelation of preferences. In Proceedings of the Tenth European Conference on Artificial Intelligence, pages 229–233, Vienna, Austria, August 1992.
J. J. Finger. Exploiting Constraints in Design Synthesis. PhD thesis, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 1986.
D. E. Foulser, M. Li, and Q. Yang. Theory and algorithms for plan merging. Artificial Intelligence, 57:143–181, 1992.
Matthew J. Katz and J. S. Rosenschein. Verifying plans for multiple agents. Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Artificial Intelligence, 5:39–56, 1993.
R. E. Korf. Planning as search: A quantitative approach. Artificial Intelligence, 33:65–88, 1987.
A. L. Lansky. Localized search for controlling automated reasoning. In Proceedings of the Workshop on Innovative Approaches to Planning, Scheduling and Control, pages 115–125, San Diego, California, November 1990.
D. S. Nau, Q. Yang, and J. Hendler. Optimization of multiple-goal plans with limited interaction. In Proceedings of the Workshop on Innovative Approaches to Planning, Scheduling and Control, pages 160–165, San Diego, California, November 1990.
R. P. Pope, S. E. Conry, and R. A. Mayer. Distributing the planning process in a dynamic environment. In Proceedings of the Eleventh International Workshop on Distributed Artificial Intelligence, pages 317–331, Glen Arbor, Michigan, February 1992.
Reid G. Smith. A Framework for Problem Solving in a Distributed Processing Environment. PhD thesis, Stanford University, 1978.
G. J. Sussman. A Computational Model of Skill Acquisition. American Elsevier, New York, 1975.
W. Vickrey. Counterspeculation, auctions and competitive sealed tenders. Journal of Finance, 16:8–37, 1961.
Frank von Martial. Multiagent plan relationships. In Proceedings of the Ninth International Workshop on Distributed Artificial Intelligence, pages 59–72, Rosario Resort, Eastsound, Washington, September 1989.
Frank von Martial. Coordination of plans in multiagent worlds by taking advantage of the favor relation. In Proceedings of the Tenth International Workshop on Distributed Artificial Intelligence, Bandera, Texas, October 1990.
Q. Yang. A theory of conflict resolution in planning. Artificial Intelligence, 58(1–3):361–393, December 1992.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1995 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Ephrati, E., Rosenschein, J.S. (1995). A framework for the interleaving of execution and planning for dynamic tasks by multiple agents. In: Castelfranchi, C., Müller, JP. (eds) From Reaction to Cognition. MAAMAW 1993. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 957. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0027061
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0027061
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-60155-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-49532-1
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive