[agents] CfP: Special Issue on Multiagent Interaction without Prior Coordination

[Stefano V. Albrecht]

*Special Issue on Multiagent Interaction without Prior Coordination*

Published in the Journal of Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems

Website: http://mipc.inf.ed.ac.uk/journal


*Description*

Interaction between agents is the defining attribute of multiagent 
systems, encompassing problems of planning in a decentralised setting, 
learning other agent models, composing teams with high task performance, 
and selected resource-bounded communication and coordination. There is 
significant variety in methodologies used to solve such problems, 
including symbolic reasoning about negotiation and argumentation, 
distributed optimisation methods, machine learning methods such as 
multiagent reinforcement learning, etc. The majority of these well 
studied methods depend on some form of prior coordination. Often, the 
coordination is at the level of problem definition. For example, 
learning algorithms may assume that all agents share a common learning 
method or prior beliefs, distributed optimisation methods may assume 
specific structural constraints regarding the partition of state space 
or cost/rewards, and symbolic methods often make strong assumptions 
regarding norms and protocols. However, in realistic problems, these 
assumptions are easily violated – calling for new models and algorithms 
that specifically address the case of multiagent interaction without 
prior coordination. Similar issues are also becoming increasingly more 
pertinent in human-machine interactions, where there is a need for 
intelligent adaptive behaviour and assumptions regarding prior knowledge 
and communication are problematic.

This special issue seeks mature high-quality research related to 
multiagent interaction without prior coordination. This includes 
empirical and theoretical investigations of issues arising from 
assumptions regarding prior coordination in interactive settings, as 
well as solutions in the form of novel models and algorithms for 
effective multiagent interaction without prior coordination.


*Topics*

A non-exclusive list of relevant topics includes:

  - Agent coordination and cooperation without prior coordination

  - Learning and adaptation in multiagent systems without prior coordination

  - Team formation and information sharing in ad hoc teamwork settings

  - Human-machine interaction without prior coordination

  - Teammate/opponent modelling and plan recognition without prior 
coordination

  - Game theory/incomplete information applied to ad hoc agent coordination

  - Empirical and theoretical investigations of issues arising from 
prior assumptions

  - Ad hoc coordination in the presence of adversaries


*Submission Details*

  - Articles can be submitted until December 15, 2015 via 
EditorialManager (http://agnt.edmgr.com). After registering as an 
author, click on "Submit New Manuscript" and choose "S.I. : Multiagent 
Interaction without Prior Coordination" as the article type. Articles 
must follow the formatting guidelines of JAAMAS 
(http://www.springer.com/computer/ai/journal/10458?detailsPage=pltci_2505868).

  - Articles will be selected via a single-blind peer review process, 
based on novelty, significance, technical quality, and clarity. Please 
include all author names and affiliations.

  - Reviewing of articles begins immediately after submission. However, 
given the limited space of the special issue, we will in most cases have 
to wait until all submitted articles have been reviewed before a 
decision can be made. Only in clear accept or reject cases will we send 
an early notification.

  - Note that although this special issue is motivated by the AAAI 
workshop series on MIPC (http://mipc.inf.ed.ac.uk), there is no special 
treatment for workshop authors.


*Guest Editors*

  - Stefano V. Albrecht (s.v.albrecht at sms.ed.ac.uk), The University of 
Edinburgh, United Kingdom

  - Somchaya Liemhetcharat (liemhet-s at i2r.a-star.edu.sg), Institute for 
Infocomm Research, A*STAR, Singapore

  - Peter Stone (pstone at cs.utexas.edu), The University of Texas at 
Austin, USA

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Scotland, with registration number SC005336.