Conflict resolution in collaborative planning dialogs

In a collaborative planning environment in which the agents are autonomous and heterogeneous, it is inevitable that discrepancies in the agents' beliefs result in con#icts during the planning process. In such cases, it is important that the agents engage in collaborative negotiation to resolve the detected con#icts in order to determine what should constitute their shared plan of actions and shared beliefs. This paper presents a plan-based model for con#ict detection and resolution in collaborative planning dialogs. Our model speci"es how a collaborative system should detect con#icts that arise between the system and its user during the planning process. If the detected con#icts warrant resolution, our model initiates collaborative negotiation in an attempt to resolve the con#icts in the agent's beliefs. In addition, when multiple con#icts arise, our model identi"es and addresses the most e!ective aspect in its pursuit of con#ict resolution. Furthermore, by capturing the collaborative planning process in a recursive Propose}Evaluate}Modify cycle of actions, our model is capable of handling embedded negotiation during con#ict resolution. ( 2000 Academic Press