The link between agent coordination and cooperation

Abstract

Agent coordination is the ability to manage the interdependences of activities between agents while agent cooperation is the process used for an agent to voluntarily enter a relationship with another to achieve a system derived goal. We describe and show the concepts of Coordinative Cooperation and Cooperative Coordination using examples. These concepts demonstrate the ability for intelligent agents to distinguish between cooperation from coordination and vice-versa. Both concepts can be integrated into a process, using a cognitive cycle to explain the interaction between coordination and cooperation. Furthermore, this paper will discuss how the coordination/cooperation loop is initialised and can be affected by Coordinative and Cooperative events. We recommend suggestions on how these concepts can be designed and implemented in a multiagent system (MAS) and introduce AC3M, which is a prototype of this cognitive loop.