Teamwork in Multi-Agent Systems (Wiley, 2010)

This book investigates teamwork from the point of view of logic. The aim is to develop a formal logical theory that gives an insight into the processes underpinning collaborative effort. The approach is distinguished from related work in for example game theory by the fact that the focus is on the mental states of cooperation participants: their beliefs, desires, and intentions. To be able to express the theory in such terms requires in itself new logical languages, for characterizing the mental state of participants engaged in teamwork. As well as developing the basic model of teamwork, this book explores many surrounding issues, such as the essential link between cooperative action and dialogue.

Contents:
Chapter 1 Teamwork in Multi-Agent Environments

Chapter 2 Beliefs in Groups

Chapter 3 Collective Intentions

Chapter 4 A Tuning Machine for Collective Commitments

Chapter 5 Reconfiguration in a Dynamic Environment

Chapter 6 The Evolution of Commitments during Reconfiguration

Chapter 7 A Case Study in Environmental Disaster Management

Chapter 8 Dialogue in Teamwork

Chapter 9 Complexity of Teamlog

Appendix A

Bibliography

Index


About the Authors
Barbara Dunin-Keplicz is a Professor of computer science at the Institute of Informatics of Warsaw University and at the Institute of Computer Science of the Polish Academy of Sciences. She obtained her Ph.D. in 1990 on computational linguistics from the Jagiellonian University, and in 2004 she was awarded her habilitation on formal methods in multi-agent systems from the Polish Academy of Sciences. She is a recognized expert in multi-agent systems. She was one of the pioneers of modeling BDI systems, recently introducing approximate reasoning to the agent-based approach.

Rineke Verbrugge is a Professor of logic and cognition at the Institute of Artificial Intelligence of the University of Groningen. She obtained her Ph.D. in 1993 on the logical foundations of arithmetic from the University of Amsterdam, but shortly thereafter moved to the research area of multi-agent systems. She is a recognized expert in multi-agent systems and one of the leading bridge builders
between logic and cognitive science.