Using Constraints and Process Algebra for Specification of First-Class Agent Interaction Protocols

Abstract. Current approaches to multi-agent interaction involve specifying protocols as sets of possible interactions, and hard-coding decision mechanisms into agent programs in order to decide which path an interaction will take. This leads to several problems, three of which are particularly notable: hard-coding the decisions about interaction within an agent strongly couples the agent and the protocols it uses, which means a change to a protocol involves a changes in any agent that uses such a protocol; agents can use only the protocols that are coded into them at design time; and protocols cannot be composed at runtime to bring about more complex interactions. To achieve the full potential of multi-agent systems, we believe that it is important that multi-agent interaction protocols exist at runtime in systems as entities that can be d, referenced, composed, and shared, rather than as abstractions that emerge from the behaviour of the participants. We propose a framework, called RA...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2006
• Where: ESAW
• Authors: Tim Miller, Peter McBurney
• Keywords: ESAW 2006, Intelligent Agents, Interaction Protocols, Involve Specifying Protocols, Multi-agent Interaction