Introduction to normative multiagent systems

Abstract

This article introduces the research issues related to and definition of normative multiagent systems. It also describes the papers selected from NorMAS05 that are part of this double special issue and relates the papers to each other. Keywords Norms . Multiagent systems . Normative multiagent systemsNormative multiagent systems as a research area can be defined as the intersection of normative systems and multiagent systems. Since the use of norms is a key element of human social intelligence, norms may be essential too for artificial agents that collaborate with humans, or that are to display behavior comparable to human intelligent behavior. By integrating norms and individual intelligence normative multiagent systems provide a promising model for human and artificial agent cooperation and co-ordination, group decision making, multiagent organizations, regulated societies, electronic institutions, secure multiagent systems, and so on.With 'normative' we mean 'conforming to or based on norms', as in normative behavior or normative judgments. According to the Merriam-Webster Online (2005) Dictionary, other meanings of normative not considered here are 'of, relating to, or determining norms or standards', as in normative tests, or 'prescribing norms', as in normative rules of ethics or normative grammar. With 'norm' we mean 'a principle

Preferences in artificial intelligence

“…The study of logical systems of deontic logic, the formal analysis of normative systems, the formal representation of legal knowledge, the specification of aspects of norm-governed multi-agent systems and autonomous agents, as well as normative aspects of protocols for communication, negotiation and multi-agent decision making are all among the topics of DEON, a biennal international conference on deontic logic in computer science. Recently, an extension of multi-agent systems with concepts traditionally studied in deontic logic gave rise to a new area called Normative Multi-agent Systems [38] with the satellite NorMAS workshops 9 .…”

Normative Management of Web Service Level Agreements

“…A normative multiagent system (MAS) involves normative mechanisms, which allow agents to adopt norms and specify how agents can modify these norms [4]. Norms can increase the efficiency of agent reasoning while their explicit representation supports reasoning about a wide range of behaviour types in a single framework [9].…”

A Normative Multi-Agent Systems Approach to the Use of Conviviality for Digital Cities

“…[4] We first discuss the distinction among various kinds of norms, and then we discuss four issues in this definition, illustrated by examples in digital cities.…”

“…The role of norms is increasingly getting attention specifically in multi-agents systems (MAS) where the most common view is that "norms are constraints on behavior via social laws" [4]. Boella et al describe action models where "agents are goal directed and try to maximize their choice of means to obtain a goal".…”

“…Another function of norms is regulation, describing what members of a social system must and must not do. Thirdly, norms may have a distributive function that is how rewards, costs and risks are to be divided among the social system's members" [4]. Similarly, conviviality reinforces social cohesion by reflecting its core values internally as well as externally.…”