Mediated Conflict Recovery by Constraint Relaxation

Dynamic events in a multiagent environment can be a source of conflict. We model the network of inter-agent commitments as a constraint graph. Conflicts arise when an event prevents fulfillment of a commitment, resulting in an infeasible constraint graph. Constraint relaxation directed by a mediating agent is used to reconfigure the commitment graph. We investigate this general approach in the domain of supply chain management and present a schema for constraint relaxation algorithms. Experimental results on Partial Constraint Satisfaction Problems (PCSPs) and schedule optimization are given along with a sketch of the conflict recovery protocol in development.