Fuzzy Cooperative Games Usage in Smart Contracts for Dynamic Robot Coalition Formation: Approach and Use Case Description

Abstract

The paper describes an approach to dynamic formation of coalitions of independent robots based on the integration of fuzzy cooperative games and smart contracts. Each member of the coalition is represented in the form of an independent agent, negotiating at the stage of coalition formation for distribution of joint winnings. A cooperative game with fuzzy core is used to form a coalition allowing coordinating the actions of individual members to achieve a common goal, as well as to evaluate and distribute the overall benefit. To implement the negotiation process and store the responsibilities of individual participants, it is proposed to use the smart contract technology, which now become a part of the blockchain technology. Smart contracts are used as entity where the requirements and expected winnings of each participant are stored. The final agreement is also stored in form of smart contract that contains the distribution coefficients of the winnings given all the conditions of participation in the coalition. The availability of smart contracts to all coalition participants provides joint control over the fulfilment of the task assigned to the coalition. The paper describes a use case based on precision farming to illustrate the main concepts of the proposed approach.