The Benefits of Arguing in a Team

In a complex, dynamic multiagent setting, coherent team actions are often jeopardized by conflicts in agents' beliefs, plans, and actions. Despite the considerable progress in teamwork research, the challenge of intrateam conflict resolution has remained largely unaddressed. In these applications, agents must act together despite the uncertainties of their complex dynamic environment. Considerable progress has indeed been made in teamwork research. For example, recent advances in teamwork models (Tambe 1997; Jennings 1995), which explicitly outline agents' commitments and responsibilities in teamwork, have significantly improved flexibility in teamwork coordination and communication.