Automated argumentation for collaboration among cyber-physical system actors at the edge of the Internet of Things

The force of automation is paving the path for cyber-enabled systems to transform every facet of human life. Decisions and actions emanating from systems with common objectives must be made coherent with respect to target objectives. Automated argumentation is a collaboration tool for groups of agents with potentially conflicting impulses. The process of argumentation identifies contradictions and ameliorates coherence among disparate actions. It is a fully distributed approach with applications in edge computing for the Internet of Things. After review of basic tenets of using argumentation for untangling opposing positions, a case study of cyber-enabled vehicles changing traffic lanes illustrates interactions that rely on argumentation. A NetLogo simulation implements the methodology described in this work. The approach presented here is also a clarion call for collaborations needed in other similarly diverse and distributed scenarios.