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Australian Workshop on Distributed Artificial Intelligence

DAI 1997: Agents and Multi-Agent Systems Formalisms, Methodologies, and Applications pp 123–133Cite as

Generating states of joint commitment between autonomous agents

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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 1441))

Abstract

Autonomous agents decide for themselves, on the basis of their beliefs, goals, etc., how to act in an environment. However, it is often the case that an agent is motivated to achieve some goal, where its achievement is only possible, made easier, or satisfied more completely, by gaining the collaboration of others. This collaboration requires the agents to communicate with one another in negotiation and in the coordination of their action. In this paper, it is assumed that such collaboration requires the agents involved to have some prior agreement on the actions that each can call on the others to do; their respective rights. A novel framework is introduced for describing agreements between agents based on rights, and it is indicated how agents may generate such agreements through negotiation. In particular, we focus on a discussion of the structure of an agreement, what it means for an agent to be committed to an agreement, and the communicative actions that agents use in the generation of agreements.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electronic Engineering, Queen Mary and Westfleld College, University of London, E1 4NS, London, UK

    Timothy J. Norman & Nicholas R. Jennings

Authors
  1. Timothy J. Norman
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  2. Nicholas R. Jennings
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Wayne Wobcke Maurice Pagnucco Chengqi Zhang

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© 1998 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Norman, T.J., Jennings, N.R. (1998). Generating states of joint commitment between autonomous agents. In: Wobcke, W., Pagnucco, M., Zhang, C. (eds) Agents and Multi-Agent Systems Formalisms, Methodologies, and Applications. DAI 1997. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1441. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0055024

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0055024

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-64769-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-68722-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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