Some Optimizations in Maximal Clique Based Distributed Coalition Formation for Collaborative Multi-Agent Systems

We study scalable and efficient coordination and negotiation protocols for collaborative multi-agent systems (MAS). The coordination problem we address is multi-agent coalition formation in a fully decentralized, resource-bounded setting. More specifically, we design, analyze, optimize and experiment with the Maximal Clique based Distributed Coalition Formation (MCDCF) algorithm. We briefly describe several recent improvements and optimizations to the original MCDCF protocol and summarize our simulation results and their interpretations. We argue that our algorithm is a rare example in the MAS research literature of an efficient and highly scalable negotiation protocol applicable to several dozens or even hundreds (as opposed to usually only a handful) of collaborating autonomous agents.

[1]  David S. Johnson,et al.  Computers and In stractability: A Guide to the Theory of NP-Completeness. W. H Freeman, San Fran , 1979 .

[2]  Victor R. Lesser,et al.  Coalitions Among Computationally Bounded Agents , 1997, Artif. Intell..

[3]  Denise de Oliveira,et al.  Towards Joint Learning in Multiagent Systems Through Opportunistic , 2007 .

[4]  Dipti Srinivasan,et al.  An Introduction to Multi-Agent Systems , 2010 .

[5]  Gul Agha,et al.  AN ACTOR-BASED SIMULATION FOR STUDYING UAV COORDINATION , 2003 .

[6]  Lovekesh Vig,et al.  Issues in Multi-Robot Coalition Formation , 2005 .

[7]  Predrag T. Tosic,et al.  MCDCF: A Fully Distributed Algorithm for Coalition Formation in Collaborative Multi-Agent Systems , 2010, IC-AI.

[8]  Y. Shoham.  Introduction to Multi-Agent Systems , 2002 .

[9]  Victor R. Lesser,et al.  Organization-based cooperative coalition formation , 2004, Proceedings. IEEE/WIC/ACM International Conference on Intelligent Agent Technology, 2004. (IAT 2004)..

[10]  Somesh Jha,et al.  Multi-Agent Coordination through Coalition Formation , 1997, ATAL.

[11]  Gerhard Weiss,et al.  Multiagent systems: a modern approach to distributed artificial intelligence , 1999 .

[12]  Gul A. Agha,et al.  Maximal Clique Based Distributed Coalition Formation for Task Allocation in Large-Scale Multi-agent Systems , 2004, MMAS.

[13]  Leen-Kiat Soh,et al.  Investigating reinforcement learning in multiagent coalition formation , 2004, AAAI 2004.

[14]  Xin Li,et al.  An Integrated Multilevel Learning Approach to Multiagent Coalition Formation , 2003, IJCAI.

[15]  Ron Sun.  META-LEARNING PROCESSES IN MULTI-AGENT SYSTEMS , 2001 .

[16]  Predrag T. Tosic,et al.  Maximal Clique Based Distributed Group Formation for Autonomous Agent Coalitions , 2004 .

[17]  Sarit Kraus,et al.  Methods for Task Allocation via Agent Coalition Formation , 1998, Artif. Intell..

[18]  Ronald L. Rivest,et al.  Introduction to Algorithms , 1990 .

[19]  Cristiano Castelfranchi,et al.  Proceedings of the 7th International Workshop on Intelligent Agents VII. Agent Theories Architectures and Languages , 2000 .

[20]  R. K. Shyamasundar,et al.  Introduction to algorithms , 1996 .

[21]  Michael Wooldridge,et al.  Introduction to multiagent systems , 2001 .

[22]  Nicholas M. Avouris,et al.  Distributed artificial intelligence: theory and praxis , 1992 .

[23]  Lynne E. Parker,et al.  Multi-Robot Systems: From Swarms to Intelligent Automata , 2002, Springer Netherlands.

[24]  Sarit Kraus,et al.  Task Allocation Via Coalition Formation Among Autonomous Agents , 1995, IJCAI.

[25]  Onn Shehory,et al.  Coalition structure generation with worst case guarantees , 2022 .

[26]  Les Gasser,et al.  Massively Multi-Agent Systems I , 2008 .

[27]  David S. Johnson,et al.  Computers and Intractability: A Guide to the Theory of NP-Completeness , 1978 .