[agents] CfP: AAMAS-17 Workshop on Multiagent Interaction without Prior Coordination (MIPC 2017)

[Katie Genter]

*Call for Papers*

AAMAS-17 Workshop on Multiagent Interaction without Prior Coordination
(MIPC 2017)

8 or 9 May 2017, Sao Paulo, Brazil

http://www.cs.utexas.edu/~larg/mipc2017/

Submission deadline: Tuesday 7 February (after AAMAS-17 notification)

*Description*

This workshop focuses on models and algorithms for multiagent interaction
without prior coordination (MIPC). Interaction between agents is the
defining attribute of multiagent systems, encompassing problems of planning
in a decentralized 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 optimization 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 optimization 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. In realistic problems, these assumptions are easily
violated – calling for new models and algorithms that specifically address
the case of ad hoc interactions. 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.

Effective MIPC is most likely to be achieved as we bring together work from
many different areas, including work on intelligent agents, machine
learning, game theory, and operations research. For instance, game
theorists have considered what happens to equilibria when common knowledge
assumptions must be violated, agent designers are faced with mixed teams of
humans and agents in open environments and developing variations on
planning methods in response to this, etc. The goal of this workshop is to
bring together these diverse viewpoints in an attempt to consolidate the
common ground and identify new lines of attack.

This workshop is the fourth edition of the MIPC workshop series, previously
held at AAAI-16 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, AAAI-15 in Austin, Texas, USA,
and AAAI-14 in Quebec City, Canada.


*Topics*

The workshop will discuss research related to multiagent interaction
without prior coordination, as outlined in the workshop description above.
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


*Format*

The half-day workshop will include keynote talks from invited speakers and
sessions of oral workshop paper presentations.


*Submission*

The workshop follows the formatting guidelines for standard paper
submissions to the AAMAS-17 main track. Workshop papers can be submitted
via EasyChair and will be selected based on a single-blind peer review
process.


*Talk-Only Option*

We offer a talk-only option for authors of relevant papers that have been
published in journals or conference proceedings. Interested authors are
encouraged to send their paper (in PDF format) and publication details via
e-mail to mipc2017 at easychair.org. If the paper is deemed relevant for the
workshop, we will allocate a presentation slot for the authors in the
workshop program.


*Organising Committee*

Program chairs:
- Tathagata Chakraborti (Arizona State University)
- Katie Genter (University of Texas at Austin)
- Trevor Santarra (University of California Santa Cruz)

Advisory committee:
- Stefano Albrecht (University of Texas at Austin)
- Subramanian Ramamoorthy (University of Edinburgh)
- Peter Stone (University of Texas at Austin)
- Manuela Veloso (Carnegie Mellon University)


*Further Information*

For more information, please visit the workshop website at
http://www.cs.utexas.edu/~larg/mipc2017/