Multi-agent system for cost estimation

The cost estimation now is a vital concern of every manufacturing firm, and many methods are available for cost estimation. In this paper , we build an novel architecture of multiagent system with each agent representing one kind of cost estimation method (distributed multi-agent system). The system first classifies the userʹs requests , then makes the expert agents to cooperate and compete to fulfill the task. The model is based on a fuzzy classification of cost estimation methods and a dynamic optimization of structure to make the agents to learn from the past (based on agent reputation). In this way, the amount of information exchange is considerably reduced.