AI Glossary
The complete dictionary of Artificial Intelligence
Contract Net Protocol (CNET)
A decentralized interaction protocol where a manager agent announces tasks and other agents submit bids to execute them, resulting in a contract being signed.
Blackboard Architecture
A coordination model where agents communicate through a shared memory (the blackboard), reading and writing information to collectively solve a complex problem.
Distributed Locking Synchronization
Mechanism ensuring mutual exclusion on a shared resource in a multi-agent system, where agents must acquire a lock before accessing the resource to avoid conflicts.
Multi-Agent Task Scheduling
The process of allocating and sequencing interdependent tasks among multiple agents, aiming to optimize global objectives such as total execution time or cost.
Weighted Voting Protocol
A collective decision-making mechanism where each agent expresses a preference, and the weight of their vote is adjusted based on their reliability, expertise, or past contribution.
Multi-Issue Negotiation
A coordination protocol where agents debate and agree on a deal on multiple interdependent points simultaneously, rather than on a single attribute, to reach more complex and optimal solutions.
Agent Routing
Mechanism determining the optimal path or sequence of destinations for a mobile agent in an environment, taking into account constraints and actions of other agents to avoid collisions and optimize missions.
Group Agreement Protocol
A set of formal rules aimed at reaching consensus on an action plan or a common belief within a group of agents, managing message exchanges and validation states.
Dynamic Role Allocation
A process where roles and responsibilities within an agent team are re-evaluated and reassigned in real-time based on evolving context, performance, and failures.
Coordination by Intention
An approach where agents infer the intentions and plans of others to anticipate their actions and coordinate their own behavior, thus reducing the need for explicit communication.
Conflict Resolution Protocol
A set of procedures for detecting, analyzing, and resolving disagreements or inconsistencies between agents' objectives or actions within a collaborative system.
Logical Clock Synchronization
A mechanism, such as Lamport or Vector clocks, that establishes a partial or total order of events in a distributed agent system, even in the absence of a global physical clock.
Distributed Bidding Protocol
An extension of the Contract Net protocol where multiple managers can publish tasks and agents can bid on multiple job sites simultaneously, requiring a complex arbitration mechanism.
Agent Mediation
The introduction of a neutral third party (a mediator agent) to facilitate negotiation or coordination between two or more other agents, by proposing solutions or managing information exchanges.
Multi-Agent Real-Time Scheduling
A scheduling discipline that ensures compliance with strict deadlines for critical tasks executed by a set of collaborative agents, often in embedded control systems.