A Semantics for the Interaction of Agents with Coordination Artifacts

In this paper we consider the multi-agent systems (MAS) scenario where agents do not only cooperate by direct, communicative speech acts, but may also interact with coordination artifacts — embodied entities dynamically provided by the MAS infrastructure to realise specific coordination rules.

We study a semantics for this kind of interaction, based on the idea that agents exploit the coordination artifact according to some <em>operating instructions</em>, which describe the interaction protocol the agent has to follow as well as the mentalistic semantics of each single interaction. By tackling some of the most relevant issues raised in the context of ACL semantics, our framework allows intelligent, BDI-like agents to carry on interaction protocols in a rational way.