Autonomous Agent Contracts for Adaptive Supply Chains

Year : 2026 | Volume : 13 | Issue : 01 | Page : 52 60
    By

    Bhargav Chebrolu,

  1. Research Scholar, MS in Supply Chain Management (Naveen Jindal School of Management), The University of Texas, Dallas, Richardson, TX 75080, Dallas, United States

Abstract

This paper proposes a novel agent-driven, on-chain coordination layer for manufacturer–distributor–retailer handoffs that automates release, transfer, receipt, and state validation across the supply network. This approach combines belief–desire–intention (BDI) agents with narrowly scoped smart contracts to capture role responsibilities, capacity checks, and escalation policies. It aims to enhance conformance, traceability, and cycle-time reliability without relying on central intermediaries. This proof of concept links supply chain states—such as production-ready, packaged, listed, purchased, shipped, and delivered—to contract primitives, while BDI agents trigger transactions based on their beliefs regarding inventory and production readiness. Auditable workflows and dispute-resilient confirmations are thereby established. The implementation artifacts produced by the project include Jason-based multi-agent behaviors, Solidity contracts for item lifecycle management and ownership, and deployment and execution cost measurements to demonstrate operational feasibility at the retail distribution edge. The results demonstrate that autonomous governance mechanisms can synchronize material flows, control handoff events, and surface governance signals, thereby providing a practical pathway for embedding accountable decision logic into supply chain processes.

Keywords: Autonomous systems, BDI agents, blockchain, multi-agent systems, smart contracts, supply chain management

[This article belongs to Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research & Advances ]

How to cite this article:
Bhargav Chebrolu. Autonomous Agent Contracts for Adaptive Supply Chains. Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research & Advances. 2026; 13(01):52-60.
How to cite this URL:
Bhargav Chebrolu. Autonomous Agent Contracts for Adaptive Supply Chains. Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research & Advances. 2026; 13(01):52-60. Available from: https://journals.stmjournals.com/joaira/article=2026/view=235973


References

  1. Chen L, Xu L, Shah N, Gao Z, Lu Y, Shi W. Decentralized execution of smart contracts: agent model perspective and its implications. In: Brenner M, Rohloff K, Bonneau J, Miller A, Ryan PYA, Teague V, et al., editors. Financial Cryptography and Data Security. Cham: Springer; 2017. p. 468–477. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-70278-0_29.
  2. Wu G, Wang H, Lai X, Wang M, He D, Chan S. A comprehensive survey of smart contract security: state of the art and research directions. J etw Comput Appl. 2024;226:103882. doi:10.1016/j.jnca.2024.103882.
  3. Rao AS, Georgeff MP. Modeling rational agents within a BDI-architecture. In: Allen J, Fikes R, Sandewall E, editors. Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Principles of Knowledge Representation and Reasoning (KR’91); 1991 Apr; Cambridge, MA, USA. San Mateo (CA): Morgan Kaufmann; 1991. p. 473–484.
  4. Mascardi V, Demergasso D, Ancona D. Languages for programming BDI-style agents: an overview. In: Corradini F, Paoli FD, Merelli E, Omicini A, editors. WOA 2005: Dagli oggetti agli agenti. 6th AIIA/TABOO Joint Workshop “From Objects to Agents”: Simulation and Formal Analysis of Complex Systems*; 2005 Nov 14–16; Camerino (MC), Italy. Bologna: Pitagora Editrice; 2005. p. 9–15.
  5. Dennis LA, Farwer B. Gwendolen: a BDI language for verifiable agents. In: Löwe B, editor. Proceedings of the AISB 2008 Symposium on Logic and the Simulation of Interaction and Reasoning; 2008; Aberdeen, UK. Aberdeen: Society for the Study of Artificial Intelligence and Simulation of Behaviour (AISB); 2008. p. 16–23.
  6. Bordini RH, Hübner JF, Wooldridge M. Programming Multi-agent Systems in AgentSpeak Using Jason. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons; 2007.
  7. Collier RW, Russell S, Lillis D. Exploring AOP from an OOP perspective. In: Proceedings of the 5th International Workshop on Programming Based on Actors, Agents, and Decentralized Control (AGERE! 2015); 2015 Oct; Pittsburgh, PA, USA. New York (NY): Association for Computing Machinery; 2015. p. 25–36. doi:10.1145/2824815.2824818.
  8. Braubach L, Pokahr A, Lamersdorf W. Jadex: a BDI-agent system combining middleware and reasoning. In: Unland R, Calisti M, Klusch M, editors. Software agent-based applications, platforms and development kits. Basel: Birkhäuser Verlag; 2005. p. 143–168. doi:10.1007/3-7643-7348-2_7.
  9. Nakamoto S. Bitcoin: a peer-to-peer electronic cash system. [Online]. Bitcoin. 2008. Available from: https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf
  10. Buterin V. (2013). Ethereum: A next-generation smart contract and decentralized application platform [online]. Ethereum. Available from: https://ethereum.org/en/whitepaper/
  11. Tian F. A supply chain traceability system for food safety based on HACCP, blockchain & Internet of Things. In: Proceedings of the 2017 International Conference on Service Systems and Service Management (ICSSSM); 2017 Jun 16–18; Dalian, China. 2017. p. 1–6. doi:10.1109/ICSSSM.2017.7996119.
  12. Calvaresi D, Dubovitskaya A, Calbimonte JP, Taveter K, Schumacher M. Multi-agent systems and blockchain: results from a systematic literature review. In: Demazeau Y, An B, Bajo J, Fernández-Caballero A, editors. Advances in Practical Applications of Agents, Multi-Agent Systems, and Complexity: the PAAMS Collection. Cham: Springer; 2018. p. 110–126. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-94580-4_9.
  13. Ciatto G, Mariani S, Omicini A, Zambonelli F. From agents to blockchain: stairway to integration. Appl Sci. 2020;10:7460. doi:10.3390/app10217460.
Regular Issue Subscription Original Research
Volume 13
Issue 01
Received 29/12/2025
Accepted 31/12/2025
Published 15/01/2026
Publication Time 17 Days
181

Login


My IP

PlumX Metrics