Multiagent Systems in Construction: A Ten-Year Review

Abstract

This study critically reviews multi-agent systems (MAS) in construction. Given their autonomous, cooperative, and learning attributes, MAS are a promising approach to address the essential problems of "collaboration and consensus" among stakeholders in construction projects. Despite the development of many agent-based technologies and applications in recent years, relatively few reviews have been reported on this area. Based on selected papers, this study proposes a novel framework of MAS in construction. It focuses on collaboration and consensus in construction projects, and comprehensively organizes three dimensions of MAS, namely "application-issue-attribute". Based on this framework, the applications and issues in construction domain can be facilitated with appropriate attributes of MAS, and it can also help find the potential applications of MAS in construction. Furthermore, this study clarifies the advantages of MAS and support collaboration and consensus in construction domain. Finally, the development of MAS in construction is presented, and future research directions are recommended.

Modelación basada en agentes:

“…Conversely, if human behavior is an important factor in the system (e.g., learning and adapting), independently operating entities under uncertainty exist, and economic, social, or political factors are involved, ABM is recommended to be implemented (Macal and North, 2010); (Walsh et al, 2003). Applications of ABM span multiple areas and disciplines, such as biology, ecosystem, and environmental management, water resource management, social sciences, and construction management (Echaveguren et al, 2017); (Grigoryev, 2012); (Hogeweg and Hesper, 1983); (Lansing and Kremer, 1993); (Liang et al, 2016); (Yazdani et al, 2015). Ultimately, the implementation of ABM in the field of construction engineering and management is the focus of the next section.…”

“…BIM is a collection of visualized building information, and as such, BIM models facilities without accounting for human behavior (Porter et al, 2014). Therefore, the integration of ABM and BIM can improve the performance of analyses using BIM by providing a simulation of the interaction between humans and the building (Liang et al, 2016). (Shi et al, 2009) proposed an agent-based model to study the occupant behavior from a public building (i.e., indoor stadium) under a fire scenario.…”

“…The learning ability of agents is fundamental to adapt given the always-changing environment of construction Micolier et al (2019) ABM allows to model human behavior in residential buildings that can be used as an input for BIM models Human behavior may be subject to cultural preferences, and as such, it may vary among different geographic locations Liang et al (2016) Autonomous, cooperative, and learning attributes from agents supports the study of collaboration and consensus in construction projects…”

“…Multiple studies have emphasized the notion that existing modeling approaches used in the construction projects lack the ability to capture inherent complexities associated with construction projects, such as project fragmentation and collaboration (Bernhardt and McNiel, 2008); (Liang et al, 2016); (Zhu and Mostafavi, 2017). Interestingly, a modeling approach that has been suggested as capable of overcoming this limitation is agent-based modeling (Hsu et al, 2016); (Osman, 2012); (Liang et al, 2016); (Zhang et al, 2019).…”

“…For instance, to better understand projects' stakeholders (e.g., managers, workers;(Hsu et al, 2016); (Ahn and Lee, 2015), construction stages (e.g., site operations; (Watkins et al, 2009)), and the inherent complexity of infrastructure projects (Osman, 2012). Ultimately, in multiple studies, it is concluded that efforts should be pursued to expand the use of ABM to the construction industry as the full complexity observed during the execution of a project can be analyzed using the ABM approach (e.g., (Liang et al, 2016); (Ren and Anumba, 2004). However, it has also been recognized that due to the high complexity of problems in the construction industry, the successful expansion and implementation of ABM in construction requires guidelines to facilitate its use for researchers and practitioners (Liang et al, 2016); (Ren and Anumba, 2004).…”