Coordination of Large-Scale Multiagent Systems

Challenges arise when the size of a group of cooperating agents is scaled to hundreds or thousands of members. In domains such as space exploration, military and disaster response, groups of this size (or larger) are required to achieve extremely complex, distributed goals. To effectively and efficiently achieve their goals, members of a group need to cohesively follow a joint course of action while remaining flexible to unforeseen developments in the environment.

Coordination of Large-Scale Multiagent Systems provides extensive coverage of the latest research and novel solutions being developed in the field. It describes specific systems, such as SERSE and WIZER, as well as general approaches based on game theory, optimization and other more theoretical frameworks. The book is comprised of several distinct topic areas, addressing:

Effects of Scaling Coordination

The Effects of Locality and Asymmetry in Large-Scale Multiagent MDPs

A Study of Scalability Properties in Robotic Teams

Comparing Three Approaches to Large-Scale Coordination

Scaling Existing Coordination Approaches

Decentralized Partner Finding in Multi-Agent Systems

Distributed Coordination of an Agent Society Based on Obligations and Commitments to Negotiated Agreements

A Family of Graphical-Game-Based Algorithms for Distributed Constraint Optimization Problems

Key-Based Coordination Strategies: Scalability Issues

Designing Agent Utilities for Coordinated, Scalable and Robust Multi-Agent Systems

New Approaches for Large Scale Coordination

Learning Scalable Coaltion Formation in an Organizational Content

Multi-Agent Coordination in Open Environments

Mobile Agents

WIZER: Automated Model Improvement in Multi-Agent Social-Network Systems

Robustness and Flexibility in Large-Scale Multi-Agent Systems

Handling Coordination Failures in Large-Scale Multi-Agent Systems

Towards Flexible Coordination of Large Scale Multi-Agent Teams

Techniques for Robust Planning in Degradable Multiagent Systems

This volume will be of interest to researchers in academia and industry, as well as advanced-level students. Represented here are the initial steps taken towards revolutionizing systems of large scale coordination for immediate and future challenges.