Methods for task allocation and cooperation in mobile multi-robot systems
Person in charge
Dr.-Ing. Chun Liu
Duration
September 2009 - August 2014
Sponsorship
Brief description
Multi-Robot Task Allocation (MRTA) is one of research issues in mobile multi-robot systems. It involves distributing and scheduling a set of tasks for a group of robots in order to minimize or maximize the objective function while satisfying operational constraints. This problem is a combinatorial optimization problem.
Many centralized and decentralized algorithms have been proposed for the MRTA problems, e.g. greedy algorithms, simulated annealing, evolutionary algorithms, behavior-based algorithms, and market-based algorithms. The performance of algorithms varies for different application and requirements. Therefore, it is necessary to design a suitable algorithm for a certain problem class.
The target problem is to inspect leaks in an industrial plant. The figure shows a studied case derived from a tank farm of a petroleum refinery. In this inspection problem, tasks can be classified into:
- single-robot tasks, each is carried out at an individual inspection position by one robot;
- two-robot tasks (linked by dashed lines), each requires two robots as a robot coalition to perform the task simultaneously from two specific inspection positions.
The figure shows a solution for MRTA in the inspection problem. As can be seen in this figure, it does not only distribute and sequence all tasks, but also form robot coalitions for two-robot tasks which introduce spatial and temporal constraints into the optimization problems.
Since a good task allocation provides more efficient scheduling (e.g. less cost, shorter time), the objective of this research is to find a suitable method that can provide optimal solutions for inspection problems.
This research is one of the topics in the RoboGasInspector project that researches the gas leakage inspection of industrial sites by multi-robot systems. [Translate to english:] Aufgabenverteilung in Multirobotersystemen (Multi-Robot Task Allocation, MRTA) ist eines der Forschungsthemen bei mobilen Multi-Ro