Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Multi-agency Is Coordination and (Limited) Communication

  • Conference paper
PRIMA 2014: Principles and Practice of Multi-Agent Systems (PRIMA 2014)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 8861))

Abstract

Systems within the agent-oriented paradigm range from ones where a single agent is coupled with an environment to ones inhabited by a large number of autonomous entities. In this paper, we look at what distinguishes single-agent systems from multi-agent systems. We claim that multi-agency implies limited coordination, in terms of action and/or information. If a team is characterized by full coordination both on the level of action choice and the available information, then we may as well see the team as a single agent in disguise. To back the claim formally, we consider a variant of Alternating-time Temporal Logic atl where each coalition operates with a single indistinguishability relation. For this variant, we propose a truth-preserving translation of formulas and models in the syntactic fragment of atl where only singleton coalitions are allowed. In consequence, we show that assuming unified view of the world on part of each coalition reduces the full language of atl to its single-agent fragment when a model is given.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Ågotnes, T.: Action and knowledge in alternating-time temporal logic. Synthese 149(2), 377–409 (2006); Section on Knowledge, Rationality and Action

    Google Scholar 

  2. Ågotnes, T., Goranko, V., Jamroga, W.: Alternating-time temporal logics with irrevocable strategies. In: Samet, D. (ed.) Proceedings of TARK XI, pp. 15–24 (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Alechina, N., Logan, B., Nguyen, H.N., Rakib, A.: Resource-bounded alternating-time temporal logic. In: Proceedings of AAMAS, pp. 481–488 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Alur, R., Henzinger, T.A., Kupferman, O.: Alternating-time Temporal Logic. In: Proceedings of the 38th Annual Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science (FOCS), pp. 100–109. IEEE Computer Society Press (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Alur, R., Henzinger, T.A., Kupferman, O.: Alternating-time Temporal Logic. Journal of the ACM 49, 672–713 (2002)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  6. Brihaye, T., Da Costa, A., Laroussinie, F., Markey, N.: ATL with strategy contexts and bounded memory. In: Artemov, S., Nerode, A. (eds.) LFCS 2009. LNCS, vol. 5407, pp. 92–106. Springer, Heidelberg (2008)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  7. Bulling, N., Dix, J.: Modelling and verifying coalitions using argumentation and ATL. Inteligencia Artificial, Revista Iberoamericana de Inteligencia Artificial 14(46), 45–73 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Bulling, N., Farwer, B.: On the (un-)decidability of model checking resource-bounded agents. In: Proceedings of ECAI. Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence and Applications, vol. 215, pp. 567–572. IOS Press (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Chatterjee, K., Henzinger, T.A., Piterman, N.: Strategy logic. In: Caires, L., Vasconcelos, V.T. (eds.) CONCUR 2007. LNCS, vol. 4703, pp. 59–73. Springer, Heidelberg (2007)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  10. Diaconu, R., Dima, C.: Model-checking alternating-time temporal logic with strategies based on common knowledge is undecidable. Applied Artificial Intelligence 26(4), 331–348 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Dima, C., Enea, C., Guelev, D.: Model-checking an alternating-time temporal logic with knowledge, imperfect information, perfect recall and communicating coalitions. In: Proceedings of GANDALF, pp. 103–117 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Dima, C., Tiplea, F.: Model-checking atl under imperfect information and perfect recall semantics is undecidable. CoRR, abs/1102.4225 (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Guelev, D.P., Dima, C.: Model-checking strategic ability and knowledge of the past of communicating coalitions. In: Baldoni, M., Son, T.C., van Riemsdijk, M.B., Winikoff, M. (eds.) DALT 2008. LNCS (LNAI), vol. 5397, pp. 75–90. Springer, Heidelberg (2009)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  14. Guelev, D., Dima, C., Enea, C.: An alternating-time temporal logic with knowledge, perfect recall and past: axiomatisation and model-checking. Journal of Applied Non-Classical Logics 21(1), 93–131 (2011)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  15. Jamroga, W.: A temporal logic for stochastic multi-agent systems. In: Bui, T.D., Ho, T.V., Ha, Q.T. (eds.) PRIMA 2008. LNCS (LNAI), vol. 5357, pp. 239–250. Springer, Heidelberg (2008)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  16. Jamroga, W., Ågotnes, T.: Constructive knowledge: What agents can achieve under incomplete information. Journal of Applied Non-Classical Logics 17(4), 423–475 (2007)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  17. Jamroga, W., Murano, A.: On module checking and strategies. In: Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems AAMAS 2014, pp. 701–708 (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Jamroga, W., van der Hoek, W.: Agents that know how to play. Fundamenta Informaticae 63(2–3), 185–219 (2004)

    MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  19. Lomuscio, A., Qu, H., Raimondi, F.: MCMAS: A model checker for the verification of multi-agent systems. In: Bouajjani, A., Maler, O. (eds.) CAV 2009. LNCS, vol. 5643, pp. 682–688. Springer, Heidelberg (2009)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  20. Pilecki, J., Bednarczyk, M., Jamroga, W.: Synthesis and verification of uniform strategies for multi-agent systems. In: Bulling, N., van der Torre, L., Villata, S., Jamroga, W., Vasconcelos, W. (eds.) CLIMA 2014. LNCS, vol. 8624, pp. 166–182. Springer, Heidelberg (2014)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  21. Schnoor, H.: Strategic planning for probabilistic games with incomplete information. In: Proceedings of AAMAS 2010, pp. 1057–1064 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Schobbens, P.Y.: Alternating-time logic with imperfect recall. Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science 85(2), 82–93 (2004)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  23. van der Hoek, W., Jamroga, W., Wooldridge, M.: A logic for strategic reasoning. In: Proceedings of AAMAS 2005, pp. 157–164 (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  24. van der Hoek, W., Wooldridge, M.: Cooperation, knowledge and time: Alternating-time Temporal Epistemic Logic and its applications. Studia Logica 75(1), 125–157 (2003)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  25. van Otterloo, S., Jonker, G.: On Epistemic Temporal Strategic Logic. Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science 126, 77–92 (2004); Proceedings of LCMAS 2004

    Google Scholar 

  26. van Otterloo, S., van der Hoek, W., Wooldridge, M.: Preferences in game logics. In: Proceedings of AAMAS 2004, pp. 152–159 (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Walther, D., van der Hoek, W., Wooldridge, M.: Alternating-time temporal logic with explicit strategies. In: Samet, D. (ed.) Proceedings TARK XI, pp. 269–278. Presses Universitaires de Louvain (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  28. Wooldridge, M.: An Introduction to Multi Agent Systems. John Wiley & Sons (2002)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computing, Mathematics and Physics, Bergen University College, Bergen, Norway

    Piotr Kaźmierczak

  2. Department of Information Science and Media Studies, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

    Piotr Kaźmierczak & Thomas Ågotnes

  3. Computer Science and Communication, and Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg

    Wojciech Jamroga

  4. Institute of Computer Science, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland

    Wojciech Jamroga

Authors
  1. Piotr Kaźmierczak
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Thomas Ågotnes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Wojciech Jamroga
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Computer Science and Software Engineering, University of Wollongong, Northfields Avenue, 2522, Wollongong, NSW, Australia

    Hoa Khanh Dam

  2. Imperial College, SW7 2BT, London, UK

    Jeremy Pitt

  3. University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, 610051, Chengdu, Sichuan, China

    Yang Xu

  4. NICTA Queensland Research Laboratory, GPO Box 2434, 4001, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    Guido Governatori

  5. Nagoya Institute of Technology, Gokiso-cho, 466-8555, Showa-ku, Nagoya, Japan

    Takayuki Ito

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this paper

Cite this paper

Kaźmierczak, P., Ågotnes, T., Jamroga, W. (2014). Multi-agency Is Coordination and (Limited) Communication. In: Dam, H.K., Pitt, J., Xu, Y., Governatori, G., Ito, T. (eds) PRIMA 2014: Principles and Practice of Multi-Agent Systems. PRIMA 2014. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 8861. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13191-7_8

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13191-7_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-13190-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-13191-7

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation