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Towards a Taxonomy of Decision Making Problems in Multi-Agent Systems

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Multiagent System Technologies (MATES 2009)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 5774))

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Abstract

Taxonomies in the area of Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) classify problems according to the underlying principles and assumptions of the agents’ abilities, rationality and interactions. A MAS typically consists of many autonomous agents that act in highly complex, open and uncertain domains. A taxonomy can be used to make an informed choice of an efficient algorithmic solution to a class of decision making problems, but due to the complexity of the agents’ reasoning and modelling abilities, building such a taxonomy is difficult. This paper addresses this complexity by placing model representation, acquisition, use and refinement at the centre of our classification. We classify problems according to four agent modelling dimensions: model of self vs. model of others, learning vs. non-learning, individual vs. group input, and competition vs. collaboration. The main contributions are extensions of existing MAS taxonomies, a description of key principles and assumptions of agent modelling, and a framework that enables a choice for an adequate approach to a given MAS decision making problem.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Primary Health Care Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Notting Hill, 3168, VICTORIA, Australia

    Christian Guttmann

Authors
  1. Christian Guttmann
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Distributed Systems and Information Systems, Computer Science Department, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Lars Braubach

  2. University of Liverpool, United Kingdom

    Wiebe van der Hoek

  3. Austrian Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence (OFAI), Freyung 6/6, A-1010, Vienna, Austria

    Paolo Petta

  4. Distributed Systems and Information Systems, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Alexander Pokahr

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© 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Guttmann, C. (2009). Towards a Taxonomy of Decision Making Problems in Multi-Agent Systems. In: Braubach, L., van der Hoek, W., Petta, P., Pokahr, A. (eds) Multiagent System Technologies. MATES 2009. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 5774. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-04143-3_19

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-04143-3_19

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-04142-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-04143-3

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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