Coordination of Large-Scale Multiagent Systems

Transcription

1 Coordination of Large-Scale Multiagent Systems

2 Coordination of Large-Scale Multiagent Systems Edited by Paul Scerri Carnegie Mellon University Regis Vincent SRI International Roger Mailler Cornell University Sprin ger

3 Paul Scerri Carnegie Mellon University Régis Vincent SRI International Roger Mailler Cornell University Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Coordination of large-scale multiagent systems / edited by Paul Scerri, Régis Vincent, Roger Mailler. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN ISBN (e-book) 1. Intelligent agents (Computer software) 2. Electronic data processing--distributed processing. 3. Distributed artificial intelligence. I. Scerri, Paul, II. Vincent, Régis. III. Mailler, Roger, QA76.76.I58C dc by Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher (Springer Science + Business Media, Inc., 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. Printed in the United States of America SPIN springeronline.com

4 Contents Preface vii Part I Effects of Scaling Coordination The Effects of Locality and Asymmetry in Large-Scale Multiagent MDPs Dmitri A Dolgov, Edmund H Durfee 3 A Study of Scalability Properties in Robotic Teams Avi Rosenfeld, Gal A Kaminka, Sarit Kraus 27 Comparing Three Approaches to Large-Scale Coordination Paul Scerri, Regis Vincent, Roger Mailler 53 Part II Scaling Existing Coordination Approaches Decentralized Partner Finding in Multi-Agent Systems Marcelo M, Vanzin, K. S, Barber 75 Distributed Coordination of an Agent Society Based on Obligations and Commitments to Negotiated Agreements Jiangbo Dang, Devendra Shrotri, Michael N, Huhns 99 A Family of Graphical-Game-Based Algorithms for Distributed Constraint Optimization Problems Rajiv T. Maheswaran, Jonathan R Pearce, Milind Tambe 127 Key-Based Coordination Strategies: Scalability Issues Tom Wagner, John Phelps, Valerie Guralnik and Ryan VanRiper 147 Designing Agent Utilities for Coordinated, Scalable and Robust Multi-Agent Systems Kagan Tumer 173

5 vi Contents Part III New Approaches for Large Scale Coordination Learning Scalable Coalition Formation in an Organizational Context Sherief Ahdallah, Victor Lesser 191 Multi-Agent Coordination in Open Environments Myriam Ahramson, Ranjeev Mittu 217 Mobile Agents Ichiro Satoh 231 WIZER: Automated Model Improvement in Multi-Agent Social-Network Systems Alex Yahja, Dr Kathleen M. Carley 255 Part IV Robustness and Flexibility for Large Scale Coordination Handling Coordination Failures in Large-Scale Multi-Agent Systems Gal A. Kaminka 273 Towards Flexible Coordination of Large Scale Multi-Agent Teams Yang Xu, Elizabeth Liao, Paul Scerri, Bin Yu, Mike Lewis, Katia Sycara 287 Techniques for Robust Planning in Degradable Multiagent Systems Ping Xuan 311 Index 345

6 Preface The increased availability of low-cost, high-power computation has made it feasible to consider building distributed systems on a previously unimagined scale. For example, in domains such as space exploration, military planning and disaster response, groups with hundreds or thousands of intelligent agents, robots and people that work together can revolutionize the achievement of complex goals. To effectively and efficiently achieve their goals members of a group need to cohesively follow a joint course of action while remainingflexibleto unforeseen developments in the environment. Such coordination entails a new set of challenges that have not been adequately addressed by previous coordination research. It is becoming increasingly clear that many algorithms, theories and infrastructures developed for smaller groups of agents have serious limitations or weaknesses when the size of the group is scaled above agents. For example, establishing and maintaining joint commitments between a thousand agents is infeasible, likewise existing multi-agent programming languages, e.g., Taems, do not provide an appropriate level of support for programming large groups. On the other hand, established techniques specifically designed for coordinating very large numbers of agents, primarily swarm based groups, do not provide developers with the required level of control needed to ensure coherent behavior of the group as a whole. The key assumption drawing together the chapters in this book is that meeting the challenges of very large scale coordination will likely require new theories, abstractions, tools and algorithms. The goal of this book is to present some of the most recent insights and approaches used by researchers working or thinking about very large groups of coordinating agents. By bringing together key ideas, the field can progress towards establishing a sound theoretical and experimental basis for coordinating many agents. Eventually, we hope that methods for designing, implementing, and understanding large-scale coordination will have the same level of maturity that has been already achieved for smaller groups. This book is broken down into four main parts. In Part I - "Effects of Scaling Coordination", we present work from various researchers who have developed systems that operate on a large scale. Each of these systems demonstrate behaviors which only occur when the systems are scaled beyond the size of a few or several. Part II - "Scaling Exisiting Coordination Approaches", presents a number of interesting attempts at scaling exisiting small-scale methods to operate on large volume problems. Part III - "New Approaches for Large Scale Coordination" presents algorithms specifically designed for large scale coordination. Finally, Part IV - "Robustness and Flexibility for Large Scale Coordination" presents novel methods for ensuring that large scale systems remain stable when faced with failures and changes that become increasingly common when large numbers of agents are involved. We hope that this book represents the first step towards a science of large scale coordination that one day forms the basis for revolutionary systems that change the planet for the better. Paul Scerri, Roger Mailler and Regis Vincent.