Methods for Task Allocation via Agent Coalition Formation

Task execution in multi-agent environments may require cooperation among agents. Given a set of agents and a set of tasks which they have to satisfy, we consider situations where each task should be attached to a group of agents that will perform the task. Task allocation to groups of agents is necessary when tasks cannot be performed by a single agent. However it may also be bene cial when groups perform more e ciently with respect to the single agents' performance. In this paper we present several solutions to the problem of task allocation among autonomous agents, and suggest that the agents form coalitions in order to perform tasks or improve the e ciency of their performance. We present e cient distributed algorithms with low ratio bounds and with low computational complexities. These properties are proven theoretically and supported by simulations and an implementation in an agent system. Our methods are based on both the algorithmic aspects of combinatorics and approximati...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 1998
• Where: AI
• Authors: Onn Shehory, Sarit Kraus
• Keywords: AI 1998, Artificial Intelligence, Coalition, Single Agents, Task Allocation