1. Towards Protocol-Based for Supporting Agent Decision-Making in Open MAS Carolina Howard Felicíssimo Advisor: Prof. Carlos José Pereira de Lucena Co-Advisor: Prof. Jean-Pierre Briot

2. August 8, 20062/25 Carolina Howard Felicíssimo © LES/PUC-Rio Agenda Introduction Motivation Case Study The DynaCROM Approach Scope Chronogram of Activities

3. August 8, 20063/25 Carolina Howard Felicíssimo © LES/PUC-Rio Introduction Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) –A powerful technology that has emerged as a promising approach to develop information systems that are composed of several goal-oriented problem-solving entities (agents) Open MAS –A MAS where agents are able to join and leave it freely –Key characteristics are: agent heterogeneity (different implementations – agents must be threaten as black-boxes), conflicting individual goals and limited trust. Moreover, no centralized control is feasible

4. August 8, 20064/25 Carolina Howard Felicíssimo © LES/PUC-Rio Motivation Network Link Open MAS

5. August 8, 20065/25 Carolina Howard Felicíssimo © LES/PUC-Rio Motivation Network Link Open MAS Contextual Information Contexts: implicit situational information used to characterize situations of participants Context Information: Environment, Organization, Roles and Interaction Protocols*  Dynamically Provide Refined Protocol Information - a Reason & Effect approach * Protocol: a set of contextual guidelines for acting

6. August 8, 20066/25 Carolina Howard Felicíssimo © LES/PUC-Rio Case Study – A Competitive Benchmarking for The Trading Agent Community The Supply Chain Management Game for the 2006 Trading Agent Competition (TAC SCM-06) 8 supplier agents / (6) manufacturer agents / 16 different PC configurations. Each PC model is built from 4 component types: CPU, motherboards, memories, and hard disks. 10 different components (Pintel CPUs 2 and 5 GHz; IMD CPUs 2 and 5 GHz; Pintel and IMD motherboards; Memories 1 and 2 Gb; Hard Disks 300 and 500 Gb). Basic Requirements for the Manufacturer Agents: –Need to know how to place RFQs and Orders for different Suppliers –Need to know how to read Offers from different Suppliers Desired Requirement for the Manufacturer Agents: –Choose offers considering internal stimulus and external stimulus (e.g., current economic and politic laws) © TAC SCM-06

7. August 8, 20067/25 Carolina Howard Felicíssimo © LES/PUC-Rio Case Study Pintel Supplier Open Agent Main Platform Agent Manufacturer Memory 1 Gb PC1 Open Agent Platform MEC Supplier Hard Disk 300 Gb Open Agent Platform Watergate Supplier Open Agent Platform Mintor Supplier Open Agent Platform Basus Supplier Open Agent Platform Macrostar Supplier Pintel CPU 2.0 Pintel Motherboard manufactures supplies dealWith supplies dealWith supplies dealWith Queenmax Supplier Open Agent Platform

8. August 8, 20068/25 Carolina Howard Felicíssimo © LES/PUC-Rio Case Study Open Agent Main Platform Agent Manufacturer Memory 2 Gb PC16 Queenmax Supplier Open Agent Platform Hard Disk 500 Gb Open Agent Platform Watergate Supplier Open Agent Platform Mintor Supplier Open Agent Platform IMD Supplier Open Agent Platform Basus Supplier IMD CPU 5.0 IMD Motherboard manufactures supplies dealWith supplies dealWith supplies dealWith Open Agent Platform Macrostar Supplier Open Agent Platform MEC Supplier

9. August 8, 20069/25 Carolina Howard Felicíssimo © LES/PUC-Rio Case Study Base Price: 250 Profit: +X% Reputation: -Y% Offer Price: 300 sendRFQs(IMDMotherboard,50) calculatePrice (IMDMotherboard,50) sendOffer(300) AManufacturer AMacrostarSupplier sendOrder(IMDMotherboard,50) analyseOffers() criterion(cheaperPrice) ABasusSupplier sendRFQs(IMDMotherboard,50) Base Price: 250 Profit: +A% Reputation: -B% Offer Price: 299 calculatePrice (IMDMotherboard,50) sendOffer(299)

10. August 8, 200610/25 Carolina Howard Felicíssimo © LES/PUC-Rio Case Study Open Agent Main Platform Agent Manufacturer Memory 2 Gb PC16 Queenmax Supplier Open Agent Platform Hard Disk 500 Gb Open Agent Platform Watergate Supplier Open Agent Platform Mintor Supplier Open Agent Platform IMD Supplier Open Agent Platform Basus Supplier IMD CPU 5.0 IMD Motherboard manufactures supplies dealWith supplies dealWith supplies dealWith Open Agent Platform Macrostar Supplier Open Agent Platform MEC Supplier Missouri Colorado California Beijing Osaka Hiroshima Shanghai California Contextual Information

11. August 8, 200611/25 Carolina Howard Felicíssimo © LES/PUC-Rio Case Study – Contextual Protocols ―Environment Protocol for Payments: 1.In USA, all negotiations are paid in American dollars (USD), its national currency. Negotiations outside USA have to have their values converted from USD to the national currency of the country where the seller is. 2.In Japan, all negotiations are paid in Yen, its national currency. Negotiations outside Japan have to have their values converted from Yen to the national currency of the country where the seller is. 3.In China, all negotiations are paid in Chinese yuan (CNY), its national currency. Negotiations outside China have to have their values converted from CNY to the national currency of the country where the seller is. ―Environment Protocol for Calculating Prices: 1.In Missouri, a state corporate income tax rate of 6.25 is imposed on all sales. 2.In Colorado, a state corporate income tax rate of 4.63 is imposed on all sales. 3.In Missouri, a three day sales tax holiday occurs, every year, from August 4 to 6. Orders of computers and computers' components, with the maximum cost of $3,050, are eligible for tax free during the holiday.  Example that can be implemented as a Meta-Rule!

12. August 8, 200612/25 Carolina Howard Felicíssimo © LES/PUC-Rio DynaCROM

13. August 8, 200613/25 Carolina Howard Felicíssimo © LES/PUC-Rio Case Study – Contextual Protocols ―Interaction Protocol for Providing Discounts: 1.Basus and IMD offer 15% discount if their products are bought in bundles. 2.Macrostar and Pintel offer 10% discount if their products are bought in bundles. ―Role Protocol for Providing Discounts: 1.MEC suppliers can give up to 5% discount. 2.Queenmax suppliers can give up to 8% discount on orders paid in cash. 3.Queenmax suppliers apply duty free discounts for tourists. ―Organization Protocol for Providing Warranty: 1.Mintor give a two year limited warranty if a plus tax of 5% is accepted. 2.Watergate give one year limited warranty. ―Organization Protocol for Payments of Ship Costs: 1.Mintor pay ship costs when warranty verification detects defective products. ―Organization Protocol for Payments: 1.Every placed order for Queenmax must have a down payment of 10%.

14. August 8, 200614/25 Carolina Howard Felicíssimo © LES/PUC-Rio DynaCROM

15. August 8, 200615/25 Carolina Howard Felicíssimo © LES/PUC-Rio DynaCROM

16. August 8, 200616/25 Carolina Howard Felicíssimo © LES/PUC-Rio Case Study – Contextual Protocols ―Economic Protocol for Operating in the Market: 1.Trusts and monopolies (concentrations of wealth in the hands of a few) are prohibited in all organizations. 2.Organizations are prohibited to make price fixing agreements. 3.Organizations are prohibited to form cartels.  (Meta-Rule) Pintel organizations are permitted to increase 5% of their prices when IMD organizations are in crisis or goes bankrupt. ―Politic Protocol for Operating in the Market: 1.Due to political crisis, American organizations are prohibited to deal with Japanese organizations.  (Meta-Rule) Mintor organizations are permitted to increase 10% of their prices when Watergate organizations are not operating in the American market.

17. DynaCROM An Approach for Dynamic Contextual Information in Open MAS

18. August 8, 200618/25 Carolina Howard Felicíssimo © LES/PUC-Rio DynaCROM An Approach for Dynamic Contextual Information in Open MAS It is based on: –A Top-Down Contextual Modeling of Protocols –Environment Protocols –Organization Protocols –Role Protocols –Interaction Protocols –A Meta-Ontology to Explicitly Represent Contexts –A Rule Support to Compose and Retrieve Contextual Protocols

19. August 8, 200619/25 Carolina Howard Felicíssimo © LES/PUC-Rio DynaCROM 349 customized compositions of contextual norms can be achieved with only 19 rules (Environment:    =1  C    = 1; Organization:    C    = 31; Role:    =1  C    = 63; Interaction: 2*    =1  C    = 254). Formula:    =1  C      Rule1- [ruleForOrgWithMOrgLaws: hasNorm(?Org,?MOrgLaws) <- hasNorm(?MOrg,?MOrgLaws), hasMainOrganization(?Org,?MOrg)] Rule2- [ruleForOrgWithEnvLaws hasNorm(?Org,?OrgEnvLaws) <- hasNorm(?OrgEnv,?OrgEnvLaws), isIn(?Org,?OrgEnv) Rule3- [ruleForOrgWithOEnvOfOrgEnvLaws hasNorm(?Org,?OEnvOfOrgEnvLaws) <- hasNorm(?OEnvOfOrgEnv,?OEnvOfOrgEnvLaws), belongsTo(?OrgEnv,?OEnvOfOrgEnv) isIn(?Org,?OrgEnv)] Rule4- [ruleForOrgWithMOrgEnvLaws: hasNorm(?Org,?MOrgEnvLaws) <- hasNorm(?MOrgEnv,?MOrgEnvLaws), isIn(?MOrg,?MOrgEnv) hasMainOrganization(?Org,?MOrg)] Rule5- [ruleForOrgWithOEnvOfMOrgEnvLaws: hasNorm(?Org,?OEnvOfMOrgEnvLaws) <- hasNorm(?OEnvOfMOrgEnv,?OEnvOfMOrgEnvLaws), belongsTo(?MOrgEnv,?OEnvOfMOrgEnv) isIn(?MOrg,?MOrgEnv) hasMainOrganization(?Org,?MOrg)]

20. August 8, 200620/25 Carolina Howard Felicíssimo © LES/PUC-Rio DynaCROM – Current Implemented Architecture DynaCROM Behavior DynaCROM JADE Agent Architecture

21. August 8, 200621/25 Carolina Howard Felicíssimo © LES/PUC-Rio DynaCROM – Current Implemented Architecture Network Host (CATOJUNIOR) Network Host (noteles) JADE Platform Architecture Network Link DynaCROM Answer USA hasProtocols: 1- USAProtForPayment 2- USAProtForCalculatingPrice Colorado hasProtocols: 1- USAProtForCalculatingPrice 2- ColoradoProtocolForGivingWarranty 3- ColoradoProtForCalculatingPrice

22. August 8, 200622/25 Carolina Howard Felicíssimo © LES/PUC-Rio DynaCROM – Further Work Implement the Meta-Rule Solution Try JADEX to Support Protocol-Based for Agent Decision-Making in Open MAS  DynaCROM answers will be added to agent beliefs –Start enhancing a JADEX implemented example with DynaCROM –Implement the TAC-SCM, 2006 example in JADEX with DynaCROM Network Link Open MAS Contextual Information DynaCROM Answer:

23. August 8, 200623/25 Carolina Howard Felicíssimo © LES/PUC-Rio Scope Time: it is not treated as continuous  it is slip up into a series of timestamps Agents make decisions moment-to-moment. They choose the most appropriate action regarding internal and external stimulus, and their goals Agents: reactive (responding to the immediate laws of a chosen action) X deliberative (following long-term plans formulated some time in the past) “The human brain has a limited ability to conceptualize complex dynamic processes”  Environments are simulated fairly close to the real-world Not dealing with: –Conflicts (same actions addressed in opposite way by laws) –Learning Techniques –Planning systems. Agents follow plans blindly to their ends, after which they will have arrived at their goal states, and can look again to decide upon another goal and another plan. In complex environments the number of possible states are of the order of 10 100

24. August 8, 200624/25 Carolina Howard Felicíssimo © LES/PUC-Rio Chronogram of Activities 2004.2 – 2005.2: Experiments 2005.2 – 2006.2: Implementations & Writings 2006.2 – 2007.2: Experiments & Implementations 2007.2 – 2008.2: Writings Continue the TAC SCM-06 Case Study Revisit some still Open Questions from REVIEWS Write the DynaCROM Paper Try LIP6 Solutions (SCAAR, Maleva, Social Actions, …) Develop a Case Study from the Disaster Domain

25. Questions ?