Abstract. Many autonomous agents operate in domains in which the co-operation of their fellow agents cannot be guaranteed. In such domains co-operation may only be attained through a process of negotiation which serves to persuade others of the value of co-operation. This paper devises a general framework for negotiation through argumentation in which agents exchange proposals and counter-proposals backed by arguments which summarise the reasons why the proposal should be accepted. The argumentation is persuasive because the exchanges are able to alter the mental state of the agents involved. The framework is inspired by our work in the domain of business process management and is explained using examples from that domain.
Sierra et al. REF describe a general framework for negotiation in which agents exchange proposals backed by arguments that summarize the reasons why the proposals should be accepted.
A Framework for Argumentation-Based Negotiation
ATAL
Computer Science