Specifying norm-governed computational societies

Electronic markets, dispute resolution and negotiation protocols are three types of application domains that can be viewed as open agent societies. Key characteristics of such societies are agent heterogeneity, conflicting individual goals and unpredictable behavior. Members of such societies may fail to, or even choose not to, conform to the norms governing their interactions. It has been argued that systems of this type should have a formal, declarative, verifiable, and meaningful semantics. We present a theoretical and computational framework being developed for the executable specification of open agent societies. We adopt an external perspective and view societies as instances of normative systems. In this article, we demonstrate how the framework can be applied to specifying and executing a contract-net protocol. The specification is formalized in two action languages, the C+ language and the Event Calculus, and executed using respective software implementations, the Causal Calculator and the Society Visualizer. We evaluate our executable specification in the light of the presented case study, discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the employed action languages for the specification of open agent societies.

[1]  Moshe Tennenholtz,et al.  Choosing social laws for multi-agent systems: Minimality and simplicity , 2000, Artif. Intell..

[2]  Zohar Manna,et al.  Temporal verification of reactive systems - safety , 1995 .

[3]  Jacques Ferber,et al.  A meta-model for the analysis and design of organizations in multi-agent systems , 1998, Proceedings International Conference on Multi Agent Systems (Cat. No.98EX160).

[4]  Vladimir Lifschitz,et al.  Missionaries and Cannibals in the Causal Calculator , 2000, KR.

[5]  Enrico Giunchiglia,et al.  Nonmonotonic causal theories , 2004, Artif. Intell..

[6]  Victoria Ungureanu,et al.  Law-governed interaction: a coordination and control mechanism for heterogeneous distributed systems , 2000, TSEM.

[7]  Marek Sergot,et al.  ( C + ) + + : An Action Language for Modelling Norms and Institutions , 2005 .

[8]  Munindar P. Singh,et al.  Flexible protocol specification and execution: applying event calculus planning using commitments , 2002, AAMAS '02.

[9]  Randall Davis,et al.  Negotiation as a Metaphor for Distributed Problem Solving , 1988, Artif. Intell..

[10]  Andrew J. I. Jones,et al.  Action Concepts for Describing Organised Interaction , 1997, HICSS.

[11]  Naftaly H. Minsky.  Law-governed systems , 1991, Softw. Eng. J..

[12]  Marek Sergot,et al.  On the characterization of law and computer systems: the normative systems perspective , 1994 .

[13]  Nihan Kesim,et al.  Implementing an object-oriented deductive database using temporal reasoning , 1996 .

[14]  M. Sirbu.  Credits and debits on the Internet , 1997 .

[15]  Lin Padgham,et al.  Design of Multi Agent Systems , 2002 .

[16]  J. Sadock.  Speech acts , 2007 .

[17]  Enrico Giunchiglia,et al.  Causal Laws and Multi-Valued Fluents , 2001 .

[18]  Marc Esteva,et al.  ISLANDER: an electronic institutions editor , 2002, AAMAS '02.

[19]  Gerhard Brewka,et al.  Dynamic Argument Systems: A Formal Model of Argumentation Processes Based on Situation Calculus , 2001, J. Log. Comput..

[20]  Guido Governatori,et al.  Declarative power, representation, and mandate: A formal analysis , 2002 .

[21]  Munindar P. Singh.  Agent Communication Languages: Rethinking the Principles , 1998, Computer.

[22]  Nicholas R. Jennings,et al.  A methodology for agent-oriented analysis and design , 1999, AGENTS '99.

[23]  Vladimir Lifschitz,et al.  Representing Transition Systems by Logic Programs , 1999, LPNMR.

[24]  Ruth Aylett,et al.  Socially Intelligent Agents - Creating Relationships with Computers and Robots , 2003, J. Documentation.

[25]  Keith L. Clark,et al.  Negation as Failure , 1987, Logic and Data Bases.

[26]  Franco Zambonelli,et al.  Developing multiagent systems: The Gaia methodology , 2003, TSEM.

[27]  Franco Zambonelli,et al.  Agent-oriented software engineering for Internet agents , 2001 .

[28]  Jeffrey S. Rosenschein,et al.  Rules of Encounter - Designing Conventions for Automated Negotiation among Computers , 1994 .

[29]  Naftaly H. Minsky,et al.  The Imposition of Protocols Over Open Distributed Systems , 1991, IEEE Trans. Software Eng..

[30]  Justus M. Wamukoya,et al.  16 – Managing copyright in a digital environment , 2007 .

[31]  Mark Witkowski,et al.  Event Calculus Planning Through Satisfiability , 2004, J. Log. Comput..

[32]  Robert Anthony Craven,et al.  Execution mechanisms for the action language C+ , 2007 .

[33]  Marek J. Sergot,et al.  Contractual Access Control , 2002, Security Protocols Workshop.

[34]  Andrew J. I. Jones,et al.  Action concepts for describing organised interaction , 1997, Proceedings of the Thirtieth Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.

[35]  Alexander Artikis,et al.  An executable specification of an argumentation protocol , 2003, ICAIL.

[36]  Marco Colombetti,et al.  A commitment-based approach to agent speech acts and conversations , 2000 .

[37]  Chris Dollin,et al.  Object-oriented development: the fusion method , 1994 .

[38]  Alexander Artikis.  Executable specification of open norm-governed computational systems , 2003 .

[39]  Munindar P. Singh.  A Social Semantics for Agent Communication Languages , 2000, Issues in Agent Communication.

[40]  Marek J. Sergot,et al.  A logic-based calculus of events , 1989, New Generation Computing.

[41]  Franco Zambonelli,et al.  Agent-Oriented Software Engineering for Internet Applications , 2001, Coordination of Internet Agents: Models, Technologies, and Applications.

[42]  Ian T. Foster,et al.  The anatomy of the grid: enabling scalable virtual organizations , 2001, Proceedings First IEEE/ACM International Symposium on Cluster Computing and the Grid.

[43]  T. Horgan,et al.  Action Theory and Social Science: Some Formal Models , 2011 .

[44]  Pablo Noriega,et al.  Towards a Test-Bed for Trading Agents in Electronic Auction Markets , 1998, AI Commun..

[45]  Edmund M. Clarke,et al.  Model Checking , 1999, Handbook of Automated Reasoning.

[46]  Varol Akman,et al.  Representing the Zoo World and the Traffic World in the language of the Causal Calculator , 2004, Artif. Intell..

[47]  Guido Governatori,et al.  Actions, institutions, powers: Preliminary notes , 2002 .

[48]  Jacques Ferber,et al.  Operational Semantics of Multi-agent Organizations , 1999, ATAL.

[49]  Carl Hewitt,et al.  Open Information Systems Semantics for Distributed Artificial Intelligence , 1991, Artif. Intell..

[50]  Henry Prakken,et al.  Rules of Order for Electronic Group Decision Making - A Formalization Methodology , 1999, Collaboration between Human and Artificial Societies.

[51]  Angelo Montanari,et al.  EFFICIENT TEMPORAL REASONING IN THE CACHED EVENT CALCULUS , 1996, Comput. Intell..

[52]  David Makinson.  On the formal representation of rights relations , 1986, J. Philos. Log..

[53]  Marek J. Sergot,et al.  The Deontic Component of Action Language nC+ , 2006, DEON.

[54]  Randall Davis,et al.  Distributed Problem Solving: The Contract Net Approach , 1978 .

[55]  Marco Pistore,et al.  Nusmv version 2: an opensource tool for symbolic model checking , 2002, CAV 2002.

[56]  Erik T. Mueller,et al.  Event Calculus Reasoning Through Satisfiability , 2004, J. Log. Comput..

[57]  Moshe Tennenholtz,et al.  Artificial Social Systems , 1992, Lecture Notes in Computer Science.

[58]  Bart Selman,et al.  Planning as Satisfiability , 1992, ECAI.

[59]  PittJeremy,et al.  Specifying norm-governed computational societies , 2009 .

[60]  Marek J. Sergot,et al.  A Formal Characterisation of Institutionalised Power , 1996, Log. J. IGPL.

[61]  Zohar Manna,et al.  Temporal Verification of Reactive Systems , 1995, Springer New York.

[62]  Marek J. Sergot,et al.  Using the event calculus for tracking the normative state of contracts , 2005, Int. J. Cooperative Inf. Syst..

[63]  Eric Werner,et al.  Cooperating Agents: A Unified Theory of Communication and Social Structure , 1989, Distributed Artificial Intelligence.

[64]  Murray Shanahan,et al.  An abductive event calculus planner , 2000, J. Log. Program..

[65]  Marek J. Sergot,et al.  Modelling Unreliable and Untrustworthy Agent Behaviour , 2004, MSRAS.

[66]  Brett Benyo,et al.  Representation and reasoning for DAML-based policy and domain services in KAoS and nomads , 2003, AAMAS '03.

[67]  Franco Zambonelli,et al.  Organisational Rules as an Abstraction for the Analysis and Design of Multi-Agent Systems , 2001, Int. J. Softw. Eng. Knowl. Eng..

[68]  Michael Gelfond,et al.  Representing Knowledge in A-Prolog , 2002, Computational Logic: Logic Programming and Beyond.

[69]  Marc Esteva,et al.  Institutionalising open multi-agent systems , 2000, Proceedings Fourth International Conference on MultiAgent Systems.

[70]  Nicholas R. Jennings,et al.  The Gaia Methodology for Agent-Oriented Analysis and Design , 2000, Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems.

[71]  Jens Woch,et al.  Intelligent Agents IV Agent Theories, Architectures, and Languages , 1997, Lecture Notes in Computer Science.

[72]  Marco Pistore,et al.  NuSMV 2: An OpenSource Tool for Symbolic Model Checking , 2002, CAV.

[73]  Richard Bolton,et al.  The industrial virtual enterprise , 1997, CACM.

[74]  Zohar Manna,et al.  The Temporal Logic of Reactive and Concurrent Systems , 1991, Springer New York.

[75]  Alexander Artikis,et al.  Interaction patterns and observable commitments in a multi-agent trading scenario , 2001, AGENTS '01.

[76]  Marek J. Sergot,et al.  Distant Causation in C+ , 2005, Stud Logica.

[77]  Marek Sergot,et al.  A computational theory of normative positions , 2001, ACM Trans. Comput. Log..

[78]  Alexander Artikis,et al.  An executable specification of a formal argumentation protocol , 2007, Artif. Intell..

[79]  Raymond Reiter,et al.  Temporal Reasoning in Logic Programming: A Case for the Situation Calculus , 1993, ICLP.

[80]  Henry Prakken,et al.  Coherence and Flexibility in Dialogue Games for Argumentation , 2005, J. Log. Comput..

[81]  Munindar P. Singh,et al.  Reasoning about Commitments in the Event Calculus: An Approach for Specifying and Executing Protocols , 2004, Annals of Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence.

[82]  Juan A. Rodríguez-Aguilar,et al.  Enabling Open Agent Institutions , 2002 .

[83]  Marc Esteva,et al.  On the Formal Specifications of Electronic Institutions , 2001, AgentLink.

[84]  Moshe Tennenholtz,et al.  On the Synthesis of Useful Social Laws for Artificial Agent Societies (Preliminary Report) , 1992, AAAI.

[85]  Alexander Artikis,et al.  Specifying Electronic Societies with the Causal Calculator , 2002, AOSE.

[86]  Julian Padget,et al.  Formalizing a Language for Institutions and Norms , 2001, ATAL.

[87]  Ian Frank,et al.  Soccer Server: A Tool for Research on Multiagent Systems , 1998, Appl. Artif. Intell..

[88]  Marc Esteva,et al.  On the formal specification of electronic institutions , 2001 .

[89]  Michael J. Prietula,et al.  Computational organization theory , 1994 .

[90]  Guido Governatori,et al.  Normative autonomy and normative co-ordination: Declarative power, representation, and mandate , 2004, Artificial Intelligence and Law.

[91]  Stephan Merz,et al.  Model Checking , 2000 .

[92]  Armando Tacchella,et al.  Getting to the airport: the oldest planning problem in AI , 2000 .

[93]  Moshe Tennenholtz,et al.  On computational social laws for dynamic non-homogeneous social structures , 1995, J. Exp. Theor. Artif. Intell..

[94]  Mark Klein,et al.  Using Domain-Independent Exception Handling Services to Enable Robust Open Multi-Agent Systems: The Case of Agent Death , 2003, Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems.

[95]  Franco Zambonelli,et al.  Organizational Abstractions for the Analysis and Design of Multi-agent Systems , 2000, AOSE.

[96]  Alexander Artikis,et al.  Animated specifications of computational societies , 2002, AAMAS '02.

[97]  Mark S. Fox,et al.  An organizational ontology for enterprise modeling , 1998 .

[98]  Reid G. Smith,et al.  The Contract Net Protocol: High-Level Communication and Control in a Distributed Problem Solver , 1980, IEEE Transactions on Computers.

[99]  Moshe Tennenholtz,et al.  On Social Laws for Artificial Agent Societies: Off-Line Design , 1995, Artif. Intell..

[100]  Murray Shanahan,et al.  The Event Calculus Explained , 1999, Artificial Intelligence Today.