Coalition Formation Strategies for Self-Interested Agents in Task Oriented Domains

This article addresses the problem of coalition formation. Our work specially focuses on task oriented domains, where self-interested agents want to perform bundles of tasks. Depending on its resources, an agent may not be able to perform a bundle of tasks alone. Then the agent needs to find partners, interested in the same bundle, and agree to put their resources in common, in order to perform the bundle all together. We present in this paper, different behavior algorithms for the agents. We propose a coalition construction algorithm based on: (1) a bundle selection algorithm, which allows an agent to select a bundle of tasks to propose and (2) a solicited agents selection algorithm, which allows an agent to select a group of agents to perform this bundle. We provide two different solicited agents selection algorithms designed for structured-preference context, based on the use of the information gathered in the previous interactions with other agents: (1) the similarity-based selection algorithm and (2) the occurrence of tasks-based selection algorithm. Both allow the agents to select partners, which are more likely interested in the bundles. These algorithms are detailed and exemplified. We have implemented and tested them, and we provide the results of their evaluation.