Under consideration for publication in Theory and Practice of Logic Programming 1 Logic and Constraint Logic Programming for Distributed Constraint Optimization

The field of Distributed Constraint Optimization Problems (DCOPs) has gained momentum, thanks to its suitability in capturing complex problems (e.g., multi-agent coordination and re-source allocation problems) that are naturally distributed and cannot be realistically addressed in a centralized manner. The state of the art in solving DCOPs relies on the use of ad-hoc infras-tructures and ad-hoc constraint solving procedures. This paper investigates an infrastructure for solving DCOPs that is completely built on logic programming technologies. In particular, the paper explores the use of a general constraint solver (a constraint logic programming sys-tem in this context) to handle the agent-level constraint solving. The preliminary experiments show that logic programming provides benefits over a state-of-the-art DCOP system, in terms of performance and scalability, opening the doors to the use of more advanced technology (e.g., search strategies and complex constraints) for solving DCOPs