Strategies for resolving normative conflict that depends on execution order of runtime events in multi-agent systems

Abstract

Norms are being used in multi-agent systems to control the behavior of software agents and maintain social order. They define which actions each agent can or not perform in different circumstances. Systems regulated by multiple norms must be able to detect and resolve normative conflicts to guarantee the expected behavior of the system. A normative conflict arises when a given agent is prohibited and obliged to perform the same action at the same time. Our work aims to resolve normative conflict that occurs at runtime and where its detection depends on the execution order of runtime events in multi-agent systems. This paper presents two independent approaches to resolve the conflicts. The first approach resolves the conflict at design time by eliminating the overlaps between two norms in conflict. The second approach resolves the normative conflict at runtime by extending an existing automated planning algorithm in order to get plans that do not produce sequence of conflicting actions.