multi-agent systems, communication and coordination
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Koen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemen
Multi-agent Systems, Communication and Coordination
Koen HindriksDelft University of Technology, The Netherlands
Multi-Agent Systems Course
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GOAL So Far
• mental states (beliefs, goals)
• mental state conditions & macros
• action specifications, built-in actions
• action rules
• environment & perception
• modules
Koen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemenKoen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemen
Outline (today)
• Intro Multi-Agent Systems (MAS)
• Coordination in MAS
• Specifying a MAS in GOAL
• Communication in GOAL
Koen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemenKoen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemen
Multi-Agent Systems (MAS)
Koen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemenKoen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemen
Multi-Agent System
Environment
A1Agents A2
A3A4
Intersecting spheres of influence of multiple agents acting in an environment
Intersecting spheres:•Action perspective: may interfere, change same parts of environment•Perception perspective: agents may have different views on environment
Koen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemenKoen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemen
Multi-Agent System
Environment
A1Agents A2
A3
A4
Various approaches to coordinate activity of multiple agents
Various coordination techniques have been proposed, main ideas:•Communication protocols impose structure on agent communication•Add organization structure on top of multi-agent system
Note: Without explicit agent communication still implicit communication possible via environment if perception spheres overlap
Koen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemenKoen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemen
Multi-Agent System
Environment
A1Agents A2
A3
A4
Not all agents need to be ‘connected’ to the environment
Koen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemenKoen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemen
Kinds of multi-agent systems• Cooperative versus competitive
– Agents have a common goal of solving a problem together or compete for resources.
• Homogeneous versus heterogeneous– All agents have the same abilities and decision logic, or agents have
different abilities.
• Interaction protocols– Which agents can talk to which other agents?
• Organizational structure– Agents may be organized in various ways (with a leader, or not,
different roles, etc.)
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Example – Search and Rescue
• Search & Rescue– Unknown environment (map may be unreliable or
absent)– Search for victims– Providing aid to victims– Aim to minimize time to provide aid to all victims.
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Example – Package Delivery
• Package delivery– Known environment (map)– Initial and target location of packages known– Aim to minimize delivery time of all packages.
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Advantages of MAS
• Complete tasks quicker through shared effort.
• Achieve tasks otherwise not possible. A MAS provides solutions in situations where action is spatially and temporally distributed.
• A MAS can be distributed over machines across a network.
• A decentralized MAS does not suffer from the "single point of failure" problem.
Koen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemenKoen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemen
Cooperation & Coordination
Maaike Harbers,
Koen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemenKoen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemen
Examples of Cooperation
http://cacm.acm.org/news/98755-how-football-playing-robots-have-the-future-of-ai-at-their-feet/fulltext
Maaike Harbers,
Koen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemenKoen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemen
Cooperation Challenges• Cooperation yields more effective (e.g., quicker)
solutions to a problem…
• But…1. Avoid duplication of effort.
2. Avoid interference, i.e. harmful interactions.
3. Avoid communication overhead, i.e., need to share information with as few messages as possible.
4. Need to synchronize behaviors.
• Coordination needed to address challenges
Koen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemenKoen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemen
What is coordination?
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Coordination problems• Without coordination, what would happen here?
• What is the problem: duplication of effort, interference, communication overhead, synchronization?
Koen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemenKoen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemen
Coordination problems
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/06/dance-dance-revolution-20-robots-think-they-can-dance/
• And what would
happen here?
What is the problem: duplication of effort, interference, communication overhead, synchronization?
Koen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemenKoen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemen
Coordination problems• And what would
happen here?
What is the problem: duplication of effort, interference, communication overhead, synchronization?
Koen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemenKoen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemen
Coordination problems
Player A / Player B
Defect Cooperate
Defect 2 , 2 5 , 0
Cooperate 0 , 5 3 , 3
Outcomes for actors A and B depend on the combination of A's and B's action.
Prisoner's dilemmaTwo persons are being questioned in separate rooms by the police. Each of them can either admit to a crime (defect) or not (cooperate).
• And what would
happen here?
What is the problem: duplication of effort, interference, communication overhead, synchronization?
Koen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemenKoen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemen
Need to be smart• And what would
happen here?
What is the problem: duplication of effort, interference, communication overhead, synchronization?
The wise men problemA king wishing to know which of his three wise men is the wisest, paints a white spot on each of their foreheads, tells them at least one spot is white, and asks each to determine the color of his spot. …
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Types of coordination
• Implicit coordination
e.g., flocking behavior
• Explicit coordination
exchange of messages
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Klein, G., Feltovich, P., Bradshaw, J. M., & Woods, D. D. (2005). Common ground and coordination in joint activity. Organizational Simulation. W. B. Rouse and K. R. Boff. New York City, NY, John Wiley.
Aspects of joint activityCoordinating behavior makes multiple agents act like a team, they perform a joint activity.
Koen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemenKoen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemen
A. Criteria: example
Making an assignment together• No intention – no assignment or two assignment• No interdepencence – each making one half of the
assignment without seeing the other half
Koen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemen
• Interpredictability
– Need to be able to accurately predict what others will do– Not just actions, but the coordination itself
• Common ground
– Pertinent mutual knowledge, beliefs, and assumptions about others’ skills and capabilities
– Joint activity is guided by signaling and coordination devices
• Directability
– Capacity for modifying the actions of the other parties as conditions and priorities change
– Responsiveness of each participant to the influence of the others
B. Requirements for joint activity
Koen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemen
Football team•Interpredictability – predict where team members will be on the field and who will be available
•Common ground – who is keeper, who defends, who attacks
•Directability – keeper tells others where to stand during acorner
B. Requirements: example
Koen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemenKoen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemen
C. Choreography of joint activity
• Three phases (functional breakdown)• coordinating tasks is coordinating subtasks• subtasks have an entry, body and exit phase
• Signaling transitions • within and between phases
• Coordination devices • serve to increase interpredictability• examples are organizational structure, convention, communication
protocol
Koen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemenKoen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemen
C. Choreography: example
Traffic•Three phase actions
- entering a road- being on the road- leaving a road
•Signaling transitions- turn signal
•Coordination devices- organizational structure, convention, communication protocol- to discuss…
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Coordination structures
Koen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemenKoen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemen
Organizational structure
adapted from Bradshaw et al.
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Organizational structure in BW4T
• Notion of ‘role’ is central
• Possible roles in BW4T? • searcher• deliverer• manager
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Notion of ‘role’ is central
organizationgoals
agents
agentroles
determine
performed by
Organizational perspective
society
agentroles
agentgoals
determine
performed within
Agent perspective
Koen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemenKoen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemen
Conventions
Coordination by convention
solution
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• A group of agents• Each agent is able to
solve the BW4T task individually
• Agents do not take into account that there are other agents
• What happens?
Conventions in BW4T
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• Do not enter rooms that are occupied• If you know about a block that can be delivered,
deliver that block• If someone intends to deliver a particular block, do
not try to deliver that block as well
Example of conventions in BW4T
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Conventions in organizational structure
If a searcher finds a block,
it must report that to the manager
adapted from Bradshaw et al.
Koen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemenKoen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemen
• A group of agents• Each agent is able to
solve the BW4T task individually
• Agents take into account that there are other agents
• Agents do not communicate
• What happens?
Communication in BW4T
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Implicit coordination in BW4T
Room 1
Room 2
Robot 1Robot 2
• And what would
happen here?
Robots do NOT communicate. How do they choose a room?
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Specifying a MAS
Koen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemenKoen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemen
MAS Specification
In GOAL, a .mas file is a recipe for launching a
multi-agent system, specifying:
• which environment will be launched,
• how many agents will be launched,
• the agent names for agent processes
• which agents are connected to environment
• which .goal file(s) is (are) used to create an agent.
Koen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemenKoen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemen
MAS Specification
A .mas file is a recipe for launching a MAS:
• which environment will be launched
• environment started by jar file,
• some of which may be initialized using the init command (check out environment doc).
environment{ env = "blocksworld.jar".
init = [configuration="bwconfigEx1.txt"].}
Koen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemenKoen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemen
MAS Specification
A .mas file is a recipe for launching a MAS:
• which agent files will be used
• agent file defines a possible agent type.
agentfiles { "coffeemaker.goal".
"coffeegrinder.goal".}
Koen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemenKoen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemen
MAS Specification
A .mas file is a recipe for launching a MAS:
• which agent processes will be created
• a launch policy specifies when, which and how many agent processes will be created.
• launch maker:coffeemaker. launches one agent process called maker using the agent file referenced by coffeemaker (coffeemaker.goal).
• does not connect agent to an environment.
launchpolicy { launch maker:coffeemaker. launch grinder:coffeegrinder.
}
Koen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemenKoen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemen
MAS Specification
A .mas file is a recipe for launching a MAS:
• which agent processes will be created
• a conditional launch rule is triggered by the environment:
whenever a controllable entity becomes available in the environment, an event is generated.
• the agent created by the launch part of the rule is connected to that entity.
launchpolicy { when entity@env do launch elevator : file1. }
Koen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemenKoen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemen
MAS Specification
A .mas file is a recipe for launching a MAS:
• additional checks in launch rule
• this launch rule can only be applied if there is an available entity of type car, and the rule can be applied at most 3 times.
Remark: launch rules are applied in linear order.
launchpolicy { when [type=car,max=3]@env do launch elevator:file1. }
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MAS Specification: Example
A .mas file is a recipe for launching a MAS:
• environment section may be empty, in that case mas is run without an environment.
• agentfiles and launchpolicy must be non-empty.
agentfiles { "coffeemaker.goal".
"coffeegrinder.goal".}
launchpolicy { launch maker:coffeemaker. launch grinder:coffeegrinder.
}
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Agent Identity and Other AgentsHow does an agent know it is not alone?• The names of all agents generated by GOAL are
inserted in the belief base of all other agents.• For example, agent(tarzan) is inserted in the
belief base of agent jane when tarzan is created.
How is an agent able to differentiate itself from other agents? I.e. how does agent jane know she is not tarzan?
• Upon creation, the fact me(<name>) where name is the agent’s name is inserted in the belief base of that agent.
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Communication in GOAL
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Communication: Primitives
• Communication primitives:– send(<recipients>, <content>)– sendonce(<recipients>, <content>)
• Example: Tarzan sends Jane a message:– send(jane, meeting(date(1,2,2010), time(12,0), duration(1,0), [jane, tarzan]))
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GOAL Agent Architecture• The basis of communication in GOAL is a simple
mailbox semantics.
Agent
EnvironmentReal or simulatedworld of events
actionpercept
Beliefs
Goals
ActionRulesProcess
percepts
message Processmessage
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Communication: SemanticsAction: send(<recipients>, <content>)• ground send action can always be performed, i.e.
precondition is true,
• assume agent sender sends message to recipients
• then GOAL puts
sent(<recipients>, <content>)
in the mailbox of sender,• agents that receive message put
received(sender, <content>)
in their mailbox. NB: keep in mind it may take some time before agent b receives the message.
Koen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemenKoen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemen
Communication: SemanticsAction: sendonce(<recipients>, <content>)
• same as send(<recipients>, <content>), but
• sendonce action can only be performed if the mailbox of the sending agent does not contain:
sent(<recipients>, <content>)
i.e. precondition is:
not(sent(<recipients>, <content>)
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Using Messages in MailboxThe facts in the mailbox can be used like any other facts in the
belief base of an agent.
That is,
• sent(<recipient>, <content>) and• received(name, <content>)
can be used in:– in conditions in action rules– clauses in the knowledge or beliefs section
Koen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemenKoen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemen
Using Messages in Mailbox
• After receiving a message from tarzan, agent jane will have:received(tarzan, meeting(date(1,2,2010), time(12,0), duration(1,0), [jane,tarzan]))
in her mailbox.
• Consequently, jane will believe:bel(received(tarzan, meeting(date(1,2,2010), …, …, [jane,tarzan])))
Koen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemenKoen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemen
Processing Message Pattern• Inserting received information into belief base and
removing received message:
• Removing received message cleans up the mailbox and makes sure that the action rule is not applied repeatedly (even after the received info is outdated).
• Using received messages in mental state conditions other than for processing the message, and using them in knowledge base, gives less readable code.
if bel(received(A,Proposition)) then insert(Proposition) + delete(received(A,Proposition))
Koen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemenKoen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemen
Message Types• GOAL supports three message types, called
moods:
– declarative, typically used to inform
Example: The time is 2 o'clock
operator: ‘:’ : send(jane, :time(14,0))– imperative, typically used to indicate a goal
Example: I want the door to be closed!
operator: ‘!’ : send(jane, !door(closed))– interrogative, typically used to ask a question
Example: How much milk is left?
operator: ‘? : send(jane, ?amountMilk(_))
Koen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemenKoen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemen
Message TypesMood operators are translated to Prolog predicates in
mailbox:
– declarative: no predicatereceived(tarzan, time(14,0))
– imperative: impreceived(tarzan, imp(door(closed)))
– interrogative: intreceived(tarzan, int(amountMilk(_)))
See programming guide, section 6.5.
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Agent SelectorsFirst argument of a send action is called an agent selector, which can be:•An agent name: send(jane, …)•A variable (to be instantiated): send(Person, …)•A list of selectors: send([jane,tarzan,Person], …)•A quantor:
– send(self, …) : message sent to agent itself– send(all, …) : message sent to all agents (incl. itself)– send(allother, …) : message sent to all other agents
Koen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemenKoen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemen
Sending messages to oneself
• Messages sent to oneself change the agent’s own mental state! Sending messages to oneself has special meaning.
• Changes are different for different moods:– send(self, :fact) inserts fact in belief base– send(self, !fact) adopts fact as goal and
deletes fact from belief base.– send(self, ?fact) deletes fact from belief base
N.B.: Do not use messages to self as an alternative way of updating the agent’s beliefs and goals!
N.B.: Do not use messages to self as an alternative way of updating the agent’s beliefs and goals!
Koen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemenKoen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemen
Selecting agents to send to
• Suppose agent wants to send to all other agents that are producers of milk that it wants to have milk.
Q: Write an action rule which achieves this:– Use predicates have/1 and producerOf/2.
A: if a-goal(have(milk)), bel(agent(X), producerOf(X, milk))
then send(X, !have(milk))
Koen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemenKoen Hindriks, Birna van Riemsdijk Multi-agent systemen
Organisation
• Tutorial this week:– Assignment 4: team agent for BW4T
• Exam:– Specification of material to study will be posted on
blackboard.– Example exams will be made available.
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