In this paper we present a system for developing autonomous agents that combine reactivity to an uncertain and rapidly changing environmcnt with commitment to prespecified tactics involving coordination and team work. The concept of roles in a team is central to the paper. Agents act and coordinate with other agents depending on their roles. The decision-mechanism of an agent is specified in terms of prioritized rules organized in a decision tree. In the decision-tree both reactivity to changes in the environment and commitment to long term courses of actions (behaviors) are present. The coordination between agents is mainly obtained through common tactics, strategies, and observations of actions of team members, rather than explicit communication. Coordinated behaviors can be specified in terms of roles and are encoded simultaneously for all participating agents.
['Silvia Coradeschi', 'Lars Karlsson']
A Role-Based Decision-Mechanism for Teams of Reactive and Coordinating Agents