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To determine an optimal plan for complex tasks, one often deals with dynamic and hierarchical relationships between several entities. Traditionally, such problems are tackled with optimal control, which relies on the optimization of cost…

Agent based systems are more common than we may think. A Promise Theory perspective on cooperation, in systems of human-machine agents, offers a unified perspective on organization and functional design with semi-automated efforts, in terms…

This paper is concerned with the problem of controlling a system of constrained dynamic subsystems in a way that balances the performance degradation of decentralized control with the practical cost of centralized control. We propose a…

A principal contracts with an agent through an informed delegate. Although the principal cannot directly mediate the interaction, she can restrict the menus of contracts the delegate may offer. We characterize the outcomes implementable…

In this work, inspired in the symbolic dynamic of chaotic systems and using machine learning techniques, a control strategy for complex systems is designed. Unlike the usual methodologies based on modeling, where the control signal is…

Contract scheduling is a general technique that allows to design a system with interruptible capabilities, given an algorithm that is not necessarily interruptible. Previous work on this topic has largely assumed that the interruption is a…

Taking an interaction network oriented perspective in informatics raises the challenge to describe deterministic finite systems which take part in networks of nondeterministic interactions. The traditional approach to describe processes as…

On many dimensions, services can be seen to exist along spectra measuring the degree of interaction between customer and agent. For instance, every interaction features some number of contributions by each of those two sides, creating a…

We consider a general framework of optimal mechanism design under adverse selection and ambiguity about the type distribution of agents. We prove the existence of optimal mechanisms under minimal assumptions on the contract space and prove…

Mobile crowdsourcing refers to systems where the completion of tasks necessarily requires physical movement of crowdworkers in an on-demand workforce. Evidence suggests that in such systems, tasks often get assigned to crowdworkers who…

There are many models of distributed computing, and no unifying mathematical framework for considering them all. One way to sidestep this issue is to start with simple communication and fault models, and use them as building blocks to…

We consider the classic principal-agent model of contract theory, in which a principal designs an outcome-dependent compensation scheme to incentivize an agent to take a costly and unobservable action. When all of the model…

Recent work in the field of multi-agent systems has sought to use techniques and concepts from the field of formal methods to provide rigorous theoretical analysis and guarantees on complex systems where multiple agents strategically…

The structure of social relations is fundamental for the construction of plausible simulation scenarios. It shapes the way actors interact and create their identity within overlapping social contexts. Each actor interacts in multiple…

This letter presents a physical human-robot interaction scenario in which a robot guides and performs the role of a teacher within a defined dance training framework. A combined cognitive and physical feedback of performance is proposed for…

We explore the interplay of network structure, topology, and dynamic interactions between nodes using the paradigm of distributed synchronization in a network of coupled oscillators. As the network evolves to a global steady state,…

Hybrid systems are a compact and natural mechanism with which to address problems in robotics. This work introduces an approach to learning hybrid systems from demonstrations, with an emphasis on extracting models that are explicitly…

Effective human-robot collaboration requires informed anticipation. The robot must anticipate the human's actions, but also react quickly and intuitively when its predictions are wrong. The robot must plan its actions to account for the…

We propose a method that allows to develop shared understanding between two agents for the purpose of performing a task that requires cooperation. Our method focuses on efficiently establishing successful task-oriented communication in an…

Motivated by the growing requirements on the operation of complex engineering systems, we present contracts as specifications for continuous-time linear dynamical systems with inputs and outputs. A contract is defined as a pair of…