Adaptive consensus formation among multiple agents

In this paper, we consider the problem of consensus formation of adaptive agents. We consider a group of adaptive agents required to make a group decision. The adaptive agents are modeled as having their own preference order as rational agents with different levels of adaptation. In order to make a consistent group decision, they are required to derive the group preference by aggregating their preference orders. Each agent, as both a rational and an autonomous agent, may behave to satisfy its own preference order. However, it may pose a difficult issue if priority is given to each agent’s preference order. It is known that it is impossible to derive the consistent group preference order by summarizing individual preference orders. Therefore, in a group of humans, prior to a group decision, each member often changes his own views and modifies his own preference order. In this paper, we provide an adaptive model for consensus formation. Each agent modifies its own preference order by considering the others’ preference orders and the status of the group decision. We also consider the heterogeneity of agents by reflecting different levels of adaptation. We show that a group of rational agents with different levels of adaptation enhances the possibility of reaching consensus. Heterogeneity among agents also affects the content of consensus formation. We develop a prototype model which is applied to the problem domain of allocating Internet resources. © 2000 Scripta Technica, Syst Comp Jpn, 31(7): 20–28, 2000