Self-Organization and Adjustable Autonomy: Two Sides of the Same Medal?

Contents

In this paper we explore the relationship between self-organization of multiagent systems and adjustable autonomy in intelligent agents. To discuss multiagent organizations, we introduce the Framework for self-Organization and Robustness in Multiagent systems (FORM). This framework uses delegation as the central concept to define organizational relationships in task-assignment multiagent systems. For this purpose, it distinguishes two types of delegation: task delegation and social delegation. It further defines four different mechanisms to perform these types of delegation. Task delegation, social delegation, and their mechanisms are used as basic building blocks to define a spectrum of seven organizational forms for agent groups. The whole spectrum is defined by qualitatively different relationships that couple agents more or less closely together. Using FORM, we show how self-organization, i.e. the deliberate choice of an organizational form in this spectrum, relates to adjustable autonomy.