Agent-Agent Interaction

What is Agent-Agent Interaction?

• Various forms of communication, cooperation, competition, and adaptation
• Involve sharing information, exchanging resources, competing for limited resources, coordinating actions, adapting behaviors based on others' actions, and influencing each other's decision-making processes. 

Which different types of agent-agent interactions are possible?

The agents are at the same location

• Agents at the same cell
• Agents within a threshold distance of each other
• Agents can see each other
• Agents that belong to the same neighbourhood or in the same room

The agents belong to the same group

• Groups in ABM models are also referred to as collectives
• In many cases, information automatically shared within these collectives
• Examples: farmers organisations, classes in school, households, and families. 

Broadcasting of Information

• Interaction is one-sided, forces to all other agents. The agents that broadcasts this information does not "know" the other agents and does not take actions ensuring that a spesific agent will receive the information. 
• Examples: media, television, governments, etc. 

Social Networks

• Communication in both directions
• No physical contact needed (e.g social media)
• New links can be formed (people get to know each other) and links can be broken

What happens when agents interact?

....that depends... what the interaction is about....

• Sharing information --> information will be stored
• The state of the agent can change. In a disease simulation, when an infectious agent meets a susceptible agent, the state of the second agent may change the infected
• When a child hets infected, one of the parents must return home (stop working_ to take care of the child.  This will change the behaviour of the parent. This applies to a single agent that is part of a group. 
• When the government agent broadcast information about going into lockdown, the behavior of all other agents will change. 

What is difference between direct and indirect interactions?

• Direct Interactions: Interactions in which individuals encounter and affect others. 
• Indirect Interactions: the agent perceives the actions of another agent and the possible impact this has on their own situation. 

How can interactions can be conceptualized?

• UML Sequence diagram : interaction model, whows interactions arranged in time
• Can be used for interactions between agents but also interactions between agents and environments or environments and environments

ITC Evacuation Model

• When Officers meet leavers that had not started the evacuation, this officer will wait and start to communicate with that leavers. As a result, the leaver will start to evacuate. (At same location)
• Students and teachers are in one group to leave the building (same group)
• Intercom agents may be communicate to all the agents in the building (Broadcasting)
• Agents not always interact with the same group of agents (Social Network)
• (Change the behavior) When the officer meet the followers, the followers will start to move with the officer. When the officer reach the exit, the followers will evacuate. When the intercom tell the evacuation to stop, all the behavior of the agents will change.
• All of these are direct interaction.
• Conceptualization:
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