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Where Should Complexity Go? Cooperation in Complex Agents with Minimal Communication

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Innovative Concepts for Agent-Based Systems (WRAC 2002)

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Abstract

The ‘Radical Agent Concept’ in this chapter is that communication between agents in a MAS should be the simplest part of the system. When extensive real-time coordination between modules is required, then those modules should probably be considered elements of a single modular agent rather than as agents themselves. The advantage of this distinction is that system developers can then leverage standard software-engineering practices and more centralized coordination mechanisms to reduce the over-all complexity of the system. In this chapter I provide arguments for this point and also examples, both from nature and from my own research in building modular agents.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, University of Bath, Bath, BA2 7AY, United Kingdom

    Joanna J. Bryson

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  1. Joanna J. Bryson
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 588, 20771, Greenbelt, MD, USA

    Walt Truszkowski

  2. Lero–the Irish Software Engineering Research Center, University of Limerick, Ireland

    Mike Hinchey

  3. Advanced Technology Laboratories, Lockheed Martin Corporation, VA 22203, Arlington, USA

    Chris Rouff

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© 2003 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Bryson, J.J. (2003). Where Should Complexity Go? Cooperation in Complex Agents with Minimal Communication. In: Truszkowski, W., Hinchey, M., Rouff, C. (eds) Innovative Concepts for Agent-Based Systems. WRAC 2002. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 2564. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-45173-0_23

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-45173-0_23

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-40725-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-45173-0

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