Autonomous Last-Mile Delivery Based on the Cooperation of Multiple Heterogeneous Unmanned Ground Vehicles

Abstract

With the development of e-commerce, the last-mile delivery has become a significant part of customers’ shopping experience. In this paper, an autonomous last-mile delivery method using multiple unmanned ground vehicles is investigated. Being a smart logistics service, it provides a promising solution to reduce the delivery cost, improve efficiency, and avoid the spread of airborne diseases, such as SARS and COVID-19. By using a cooperation strategy with multiple heterogeneous robots, contactless parcel delivery can be carried out within apartment complexes efficiently. In this paper, the last-mile delivery with heterogeneous UGVs is formulated as an optimization problem aimed at minimizing the maximum makespan to complete all tasks. Then, a heuristic algorithm combining the Floyd’s algorithm and PSO algorithm is proposed for task assignment and path planning. This algorithm is further realized in a distributed scheme, with all robots in a swarm working together to obtain the best task schedule. A good solution with an optimized makespan is achieved by considering the constraints of various robots in terms of speed and payload. Simulations and experiments are carried out and the obtained results confirm the validity and applicability of the developed approaches.

Design and Optimization of E-Commerce Logistics Distribution System Based on Multiobjective Function

“…Iranian Manesh, et al ere has been good research, to study the terminal structure of e-commerce logistics terminal distribution network, how to organize personal content is very important [3]. By comparing the similarities and differences between the e-commerce logistics distribution network and telephone communication, Wu, et al designed a method for constructing an e-commerce logistics terminal distribution network and developed an e-commerce logistics terminal distribution network optimization model [4]. Sun, et al analyzed the vehicle usage and distribution route planning model with time windows based on the door-todoor distribution model, and proposed methods to improve the quality of distribution services [5].…”

Application of BP Neural Network in Matching Algorithm of Network E-Commerce Platform

“…Wu et al proposed a point feature matching algorithm based on the crosscorrelation function. Firstly, crosscorrelation is used to obtain the initial matching between feature point sets, and then epipolar geometric constraints are used to screen the patterns of matching point pairs to obtain accurate feature point matching point pairs [5]. Moholkar and Patil studied the fast point pattern matching algorithm, which uses the clustering method to determine the rotation of two point sets to be matched θ, and the algorithm has high efficiency [6].…”

Autonomous Delivery Solutions for Last-Mile Logistics Operations: A Literature Review and Research Agenda

“…However, such dynamics (e.g., on-demand delivery schemes or due windows) are seen as important for future logistics operations and thus require further research [17]. The suitability of applying two-tiered concepts became evident after developing an algorithm to identify the minimum and maximum make-span of a delivery process using unmanned ground vehicles [47]. Relatedly, Ref.…”