An agent architecture for multi-attribute negotiation using incomplete preference information

A component-based generic agent architecture for multi-attribute (integrative) negotiation is introduced and its application is described in a prototype system for negotiation about cars, developed in co-operation with, among others, Dutch Telecom KPN. The approach can be characterized as co-operative one-to-one multi-criteria negotiation in which the privacy of both parties is protected as much as desired. We model a mechanism in which agents are able to use any amount of incomplete preference information revealed by the negotiation partner in order to improve the efficiency of the reached agreements. Moreover, we show that the outcome of such a negotiation can be further improved by incorporating a "guessing" heuristic, by which an agent uses the history of the opponent's bids to predict his preferences. Experimental evaluation shows that the combination of these two strategies leads to agreement points close to or on the Paretoefficient frontier. The main original co...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2007
• Where: AAMAS
• Authors: Catholijn M. Jonker, Valentin Robu, Jan Treur
• Keywords: AAMAS 2007, Component-based Generic Agent, Intelligent Agents, Negotiation, One-to-one Multi-criteria Negotiation