AOn-line Automated Synthesis of Compact Normative Systems

Most normative systems make use of explicit representations of norms (namely, obligations, prohibi-tions, and permissions) and associated mechanisms to support the self-regulation of open societies of self-interested and autonomous agents. A key problem in research on normative systems is that of how to syn-thesise effective and efficient norms. Manually designing norms is time-consuming and error-prone. An alternative is to automatically synthesise norms. However, norm synthesis is a computationally complex problem. We present a novel on-line norm synthesis mechanism, designed to synthesise compact normative systems. It yields normative systems composed of concise (simple) norms that effectively coordinate a multi-agent system without lapsing into over-regulation. Our mechanism is based on a central authority that monitors a multi-agent system, searching for undesired states. After detecting undesirable states, the cen-tral authority then synthesises norms aimed to avoid them in the future. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach through experimental results