Agent Hiring in Large-Scale Groups

• Christian J. Delgado Polar UFMG
• Luiz Chaimowicz UFMG

Abstract

With the advances in ubiquitous and massive computing systems, there is an increasing need of technologies that deal with large number of agents. Specially, systems of self-interested agents, each one representing different persons or institutions, are gaining importance. In such systems, one agent normally has to negotiate with and contract other agents to fulfill its objectives. This paper presents a scalable protocol to perform this type of contracting in swarms of self-interest agents. The protocol was tested in simulations where teams of robotic vehicles must transport items from specific targets. Results demonstrate that the proposed protocol is scalable, rational and fair, being suitable for this type of system.

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