Distributed Artificial Intelligence (DAI) has been concerned with the design of automated agents which can interact effectively in order to satisfy their goals. This project will contribute to both the theory and design of efficient autonomous agents which are able to communicate and negotiate in such a way as to enhance the possibility of reaching mutually beneficial agreements. The authors are developing a strategic model of negotiation that takes the passage of time during the negotiation process itself into consideration. This model is used in the creation of a prototype of an autonomous agent that participates in situations where negotiations are required, and where time constraints exist. A preliminary model has been constructed, based on the differentialimpact of time on the parties, the effects of two-partyand restricted N-party environments, an full information. The researchers are extending the model to deal with situations where the information available to the agents is incomplete, to more complicated N-party situations, and to agents with limited rationality. Parallel to these theoretical extensions, the design of the automated negotiator is being developed and a prototype created. The strategic model is used to identify efficient strategies for the automated negotiator, for various negotiationsituations. A library of meta-strategies in which the strategies will be presented using the finite-automata framework is being built. The automated negotiator identifies the appropriate parameters of its situation, searches for the appropriate strategy, and negotiates according to that strategy. //
