Trade of a problem-solving task

This paper focuses on a task allocation problem, particularly in cases where the task is to find a solution to a search problem or a constraint satisfaction problem. If the search problem is difficult to solve, a contractor may fail to find a solution. Here, the more computational resources, such as the CPU time, the contractor invests in solving the search problem, the more likely a solution will be found. This brings about a new problem in which a contractee has to find an appropriate quality level in task achievement as well as to efficiently allocate a task among contractors. For example, if the contractee asks the contractor to find a solution with certainty, the payment from the contractee to the contractor may exceed the contractee’s benefit from obtaining a solution, which discourages the contractee from trading a task. However, it is difficult to solve this problem because the contractee cannot ascertain the contractor’s problem-solving ability such as the amount of ...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2003
• Where: ATAL
• Authors: Shigeo Matsubara
• Keywords: Appropriate Quality Level, ATAL 2003, Search Problem, Task Allocation