Abstract
Bid evaluation in a multi-agent automated contracting environment presents a challenging search problem. We introduce a multi-criterion, anytime bid evaluation strategy that incorporates cost, task coverage, temporal feasibility, and risk estimation into a simulated annealing framework. We report on an experimental evaluation using a set of increasingly informed search heuristics within simulated annealing. The results show that excess focus on improvement leads to faster improvement early on, at the cost of a lower likelihood of finding a solution that satisfies all the constraints. The most successful approach used a combination of random and focused bid selection methods, along with pruning and repeated restarts.
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Collins, J., Sundareswara, R., Gini, M., Mobasher, B. (2000). Bid Selection Strategies for Multi-agent Contracting in the Presence of Scheduling Constraints. In: Moukas, A., Ygge, F., Sierra, C. (eds) Agent Mediated Electronic Commerce II. AMEC 1999. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 1788. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/10720026_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/10720026_7
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