Conflict detection and resolution for goal formation in the fractal manufacturing system

The fractal manufacturing system (FrMS) is based on the concept of autonomously cooperating agents referred to as fractals. A fractal is a set of self-similar agents whose goal can be achieved through cooperation, coordination, and negotiation among the agents for themselves. A fractal has fractal-specific characteristics (e.g. self-similarity, self-organization, self-optimization, goal-orientation, and dynamics), and it also has the characteristics of an agent (e.g. autonomy, mobility, intelligence, cooperation, and adaptability) at the same time. In the FrMS, a goal can be regarded as the status which the system aspires to be in. The goal-formation process (GFP) in the FrMS is a process of generating goals and modifying them by coordination between agents. In the GFP, conflicts may occur between goals, which can drive a system to become inefficient. In this paper, a conflict resolution mechanism via agent-based negotiation is proposed for facilitating the GFP. The scheme deals with non-fixed goals. The mobile agent-based negotiation process (MANPro), in which a mobile agent is used for information-exchanging and problem-solving, is used for negotiations in this scheme. The proposed mechanism is illustrated with a goal formation scenario in an exemplary FrMS.