Whatever You Say

This paper addresses an important problem in multi-agent coordination: the formal representation of parameters in the content of agent intentions that are only partially specified (e.g., when the intended action has not yet been executed and values for the parameters have not yet been chosen or the authority for choosing such values has been delegated to others). For example, Abe might intend to rent “whatever car Zoe tells him to”, in which case the problem is how to formally represent the quoted clause (i.e., the “whatever” content). The paper presents a two-pronged approach. First, it uses the event calculus to model declarative speech-acts which agents use to establish facts about parameters in a social context. Second, it partitions the content of agent intentions into (1) a condition that the agent should refrain from determining and (2) a goal that the agent should strive to achieve. The satisfaction conditions of such intentions treat these types of content differently; however they can share variables and, thus, are linked in a restricted sense.