Using Single Function Agents to investigate conflict

Design Expert Systems can be built using many small, cooperating, limited function expert systems called Single Function Agents. Using this approach we will be able to investigate and discover primitive problem-solving and interaction patterns, specific for multi-agent design systems, and should gain a deeper understanding of the types of knowledge involved. This paper presents some categories of conflicts that have been studied using the SiFA approach, and makes a brief presentation of the SINE implementation of SiFAs. 1.0 Introduction The premise of this research is that Design Expert Systems can be built using many small, cooperating, limited function expert systems. We have called these expert systems Single Function Agents (SiFAs), for reasons which will become obvious later in this paper. The belief is that by using this approach we will be able to investigate and discover primitive problem-solving and interaction patterns, specific for design using multi-agent systems. The approach should also lead to a deeper understanding of the types of knowledge involved. In contrast to other approaches for distributed design systems, which are based on powerful agents with relatively unconstrained functionality and knowledge, we try to start with elementary components and add structure and functionality based on encountered necessities. 1.1 Goals The research follows both theoretical and practical goals: • Definition of a Domain Independent Set of Agents. Our design systems, based on ideas from Concurrent Engineering, are built by using a set of agents, possessing various types of knowledge and different functionalities. A major aim is to design agent types that are suitable for larger classes of design tasks, not only for individual problems.