AgenTalk: Coordination Protocol Description for Multiagent Systems.
Kazuhiro Kuwabara, Toru Ishida, Nobuyasu Osato · 1995
In multiagent systems, achieving coordination among autonomous agents is a major problem. Generally, a high-level protocol needs to be designed to achieve effective coordination. In the field of distributed artificial intelligence, protocols for achieving coordination have been proposed, such as the contract net protocol for task allocation (Smith 1980), and the multistage negotiation protocol for resource allocation under global constraints (Conry et al. 1991). These protocols have been further customized to suit various application domains. In addition, as software agents proliferate, demand for customized protocols will increase. In order to facilitate the development of multiagent coordination protocols, we designed a new language called AgenTalk. AgenTalk is not meant to be a forreal specification language; rather it is meant to be a programming language capable of implementing protocols and agents behaving according to the protocols. Its design policies are as follows. Explicit state representation of a protocol: An extended finite state machine which allows variables is used as a basis to describe coordination protocols. We call the representation of this state machine a script. Using this model, states of a protocol are explicitly defined, and actions of an agent can easily be defined for each state. Agent Program Application-specific Scdpts II l