The new edition of an introduction to multiagent systems that captures
the state of the art in both theory and practice, suitable as textbook
or reference.
Multiagent systems are made up of multiple interacting intelligent
agents--computational entities to some degree autonomous and able to
cooperate, compete, communicate, act flexibly, and exercise control over
their behavior within the frame of their objectives. They are the
enabling technology for a wide range of advanced applications relying on
distributed and parallel processing of data, information, and knowledge
relevant in domains ranging from industrial manufacturing to e-commerce
to health care. This book offers a state-of-the-art introduction to
multiagent systems, covering the field in both breadth and depth, and
treating both theory and practice. It is suitable for classroom use or
independent study.
This second edition has been completely revised, capturing the
tremendous developments in multiagent systems since the first edition
appeared in 1999. Sixteen of the book's seventeen chapters were written
for this edition; all chapters are by leaders in the field, with each
author contributing to the broad base of knowledge and experience on
which the book rests.
The book covers basic concepts of computational agency from the
perspective of both individual agents and agent organizations;
communication among agents; coordination among agents; distributed
cognition; development and engineering of multiagent systems; and
background knowledge in logics and game theory. Each chapter includes
references, many illustrations and examples, and exercises of varying
degrees of difficulty. The chapters and the overall book are designed to
be self-contained and understandable without additional material.
Supplemental resources are available on the book's Web site.
Contributors
Rafael Bordini, Felix Brandt, Amit Chopra, Vincent Conitzer, Virginia
Dignum, Jürgen Dix, Ed Durfee, Edith Elkind, Ulle Endriss, Alessandro
Farinelli, Shaheen Fatima, Michael Fisher, Nicholas R. Jennings, Kevin
Leyton-Brown, Evangelos Markakis, Lin Padgham, Julian Padget, Iyad
Rahwan, Talal Rahwan, Alex Rogers, Jordi Sabater-Mir, Yoav Shoham,
Munindar P. Singh, Kagan Tumer, Karl Tuyls, Wiebe van der Hoek, Laurent
Vercouter, Meritxell Vinyals, Michael Winikoff, Michael Wooldridge,
Shlomo Zilberstein
