Publication - Solving Negotiation Chains in Semi Cooperative Multi-Agent Systems

Authors: Zhang, Xiaoqin; Lesser, Victor
Title: Solving Negotiation Chains in Semi Cooperative Multi-Agent Systems
Abstract: A negotiation chain is formed when multiple related nego- tiations are spread over multiple agents. In order to appro- priately order and structure the negotiations occurring in the chain so as to optimize the expected utility, we present an extension to a single-agent concurrent negotiation frame- work. This work is aimed at semi-cooperative multi-agent systems, where agents do not cheat or intend to hurt other agents even as they focus on their own goals. We intro- duce a pre-negotiation phase that allows agents to transfer meta-level information. Using this information, the agent can build a more accurate model of the negotiation in terms of modeling the relationship of flexibility and success proba-bility. This more accurate model helps the agent in choosing a good negotiation solution. The agent can also use this information to allocate appropriate time for each negotiation, hence to find a good ordering of all related negotiations. The experimental data shows that these mechanisms improve the agents’ and the system’s overall performance significantly.
Publication: UMASSD-CIS-TR-2005007
Date: 2005
Sources: PDF: /Documents/2005007.pdf
Reference: Zhang, Xiaoqin; Lesser, Victor. Solving Negotiation Chains in Semi Cooperative Multi-Agent Systems. UMASSD-CIS-TR-2005007. 2005.
bibtex: 
@techreport{UMASSD-CIS-TR-2005007,
  author    = "Xiaoqin Zhang and Victor Lesser",
  title     = "{Solving Negotiation Chains in Semi Cooperative
               Multi-Agent Systems}",
  year      = "2005",
  url       = "http://mas.cs.umass.edu/paper/419",
}