The Robotics Institute

Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute

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Abstract

Norms, that is, obligations, permissions and prohibitions, are a useful abstraction to specify and regulate the actions of self-interested software agents in open, heterogeneous systems. Any realistic account of norms must address their dynamic nature: the norms associated to agents will change as agents act (and interact) - prohibitions can be lifted, obligations can be fulfilled and permissions can be revoked as a result of agents' behaviours. These norms may at times conflict with one another, that is, an action may be simultaneously prohibited and obliged (or prohibited and permitted). Norm conflicts prevent agents from rationally deciding on their behaviour. In this paper, we present mechanisms to detect and resolve normative conflicts. We achieve more expressiveness, precision and realism in our norms by using constraints over first-order variables. The mechanism to detect and resolve norm conflicts takes into account such constraints and is based on first-order unification and constraint satisfaction. We also explain how the mechanisms can be deployed in the management of an explicit account of all norms associated with a society of agents.

Keywords

mechanisms to detect and resolve normative conflicts

Notes

Sponsor: U.S. Army Research Labs

Grant ID: W911NF-06-3-0001

Associated Center(s) / Consortia: Center for Integrated Manfacturing Decision Systems

Associated Lab(s) / Group(s): Advanced Agent - Robotics Technology Lab

Associated Project(s): IBM ITA: Human-Agent Teamwork Models

Number of pages: 13

Text Reference

Martin Kollingbaum, Wamberto W. Vasconcelos, A. Garcia-Camino, and Timothy J. Norman, "Managing Conflict Resolution in Norm-Regulated Environments," tech. report University of Aberdeen AUCS/TR0702, Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, February, 2007

BibTeX Reference

@techreport{Kollingbaum_2007_6136,
   author = "Martin Kollingbaum and Wamberto W. Vasconcelos and A. Garcia-Camino and Timothy J. Norman",
   title = "Managing Conflict Resolution in Norm-Regulated Environments",
   booktitle = "",
   institution = "Robotics Institute",
   publisher = "Dept. of Computer Science, University of Aberdeen",
   address = "AB24 3UE, United Kingdom",
   month = "February",
   year = "2007",
   number= "University of Aberdeen AUCS/TR0702",
   address= "Pittsburgh, PA",
}

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