Agent technology has generated lots of excitement in the past decade. Currently, multi-agent systems (MAS) composed of autonomous agents representing individuals or organizations and capable of reaching mutually beneficial agreements through negotiation and argumentation are becoming increasingly important and pervasive. Research on both automated negotiation and argumentation in MAS has a vigorous, exciting tradition. However, efforts to integrate both areas have received only selective attention in the academia and the practitioner literature. A symbiotic relationship could significantly strengthen each area’s progress and trigger new R&D challenges and prospects toward the advancement of automated negotiators and argumentation tools. Negotiation and Argumentation in Multi-Agent Systems presents the current state-of-the-art on the theory and practice of automated negotiation and argumentation in MAS. The eBook encourages the interaction between these two areas in data modelling and attempts to converge them toward mutual enhancement and synergism. Equally, the monograph brings together researchers and industry practitioners specialized in these areas to share R&D results and discuss existing and emerging theoretical and applied problems. This book is intended as a textbook for graduate courses and a reference book for researchers, advanced-level students in Computers Science, and IT practitioners.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed proceedings of the 6th International Workshop on Argumentation in Multi-Agent Systems, held in Budapest, Hungary, in May 2009, in association with the 8th International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems (AAMAS 2009). The 18 revised full papers were carefully reviewed and selected from numerous submissions and are organized in four topical sections on practical reasoning and argument about action; persuasion and negotiation; argumentation theory; and applications and emotions.

The theory of argumentation is a rich, interdisciplinary area of research involving philosophy, communications studies, linguistics, psychology, and logics. Its techniques have found a wide range of applications in both theoretical and practical branches of artificial intelligence and computer science. Multi-agent systems theory has picked up argumentation-inspired approaches and specifically argumentation-theoretic results from many different areas. Researchers in argumentation and multi-agent systems are currently enjoying a unique opportunity to integrate the various understandings of argument into a coherent and core part of the functioning of autonomous computational systems. This book originates from the First International Workshop on Argumentation in Multi-Agent Systems, ArgMAS 2004, held in New York, NY, USA in July 2004. Besides 12 selected revised full papers taken from the workshop, 4 additional papers by key people in the area round off overall coverage of the relevant topics. The papers address the following main topics: foundations of dialogues, belief revision, persuasion and deliberation, negotiation, and strategic issues.

Here are the latest developments in the growing area of research at the interface of argumentation theory and multiagent systems. Argumentation provides tools for designing, implementing and analyzing sophisticated forms of interaction among rational agents.

This book constitutes the thoroughly reviewed post-proceedings of the 7th International Workshop on Argumentation in Multi-Agent Systems, ArgMas 2010, held in Toronto, Canada in May 2010 as a satellite workshop of AAMAS 2010. The 14 revised full papers taken from ArgMAS 2010 were carefully reviewed and improved during two rounds of revision. Also included are 4 invited papers based on presentations on argumentation at the AAMAS 2010 main conference. All together the 18 papers included in the book give a representative overview on current research on argumentation in multi-agent systems. The papers are organized in topical sections on practical reasoning and argument about action, applications, and theoretical aspects.

Argumentation provides tools for designing, implementing and analyzing sophisticated forms of interaction among rational agents. It has made a solid contribution to the practice of multiagent dialogues. This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-proceedings of the Third International Workshop on Argumentation in Multi-Agent Systems held in Hakodate, Japan, as an associated event of AAMAS 2006, the main international conference on autonomous agents and multi-agent systems.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Argumentation in Multi-Agent Systems held in Utrecht, Netherlands in July 2005 as an associated event of AAMAS 2005, the main international conference on autonomous agents and multi-agent systems. The 10 revised full papers presented together with an invited paper were carefully reviewed and selected from 17 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on foundations, negotiation, protocols, deliberation and coalition formation, and consensus formation.