Solving Negotiation Chains in Semi-Cooperative Multi-Agent Systems

A negotiation chain is formed when multiple related negotiations are spread over multiple agents. In order to appropriately 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 framework. 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 introduce 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 probability. 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.

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