Separation of concerns for mechatronic multi-agent systems through dynamic communities

Abstract

Multi-agent systems present a promising paradigm for coping with the complexity of intelligent mechatronic applications, particularly where purposeful behavior and complex structures emerge from the interactions of seemingly simple elements. The safety of mechatronic systems relies on predictability, which is apparently at odds with the concept of emergent behavior. When designing complex mechatronic multi-agent systems, the main challenge thus lies in achieving predictability without ruling out the desired emergent behavior. We propose to achieve this by decomposing the requirements and design into largely independent concerns, represented by social structures with behavioral norms, which are reconciled at the agent level. An explicit grounding of all constructs in observable entities from the mechatronic system's environment model makes them amenable to formal analysis and enables rapid prototyping. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.