Task Allocation Using a Team of Robots

Abstract

Purpose of Review Task allocation using a team or coalition of robots is one of the most important problems in robotics, computer science, operational research, and artificial intelligence. We present a survey of multi-robot task allocation covering many problem variants and solution approaches, both centralized and decentralized. Recent Findings In recent work, research has focused on handling complex objectives and feasibility constraints amongst other variations of the multi-robot task allocation problem. There are many examples of important research and recent progress in these directions, which are captured in this survey, along with similar examples for the various solutions that have been developed to solve such problems. Summary We first present a general formulation of the task allocation problem that generalizes several versions that are well-studied. Our formulation includes the states of robots, tasks, and the surrounding environment in which they operate, and we describe how the problem can be varied depending on the feasibility constraints, objective functions, and the level of dynamically changing information. In addition, we discuss existing solution approaches for the problem including optimization-based approaches, and market-based approaches.

Enchères pour le Maintien des Communications lors de l’Allocation de Tâches pour des Missions Multi-robots

“…D'autres algorithmes consistent à répartir les tâches de la mission en paquets [36], et les principales difficultés de ces approches sont de construire ces paquets de façon pertinente [28]. Une autre classe d'algorithmes approchés sont les approches comportementales, qui permettent aux robots de se répartir les tâches sans se concerter, grâce à un ensemble de règles prédéfinies [3]. Ces approches sont donc particulièrement bien adapté aux missions au cours desquelles les robots sont le plus souvent en autonomie.…”

A New Method for Improving the Fairness of Multi-Robot Task Allocation by Balancing the Distribution of Tasks

“…Creating a task allocation strategy that can handle the diversity of tasks and robots is an important challenge; which ensures a seamless distribution of capabilities and resources. Considerable advancements have been attained in multiple task allocation methodologies that derive from diverse approaches [14] such as centralized approaches [15], decentralized approaches [16], cloud approaches [17] and market-based approaches [18]. These methods do, however, have some drawbacks that highlight the demand for more development.…”

A Decentralized Based Approach Using Hybrid Filtered Beam Search Algorithm for Monitoring Patrols

“…However, the main drawback of such an approach is that in the event of a major failure of the central controller, the entire system will fail as well. Especially when large amounts of data are involved and the network becomes congested due to communication between the robots and the controller [5], [6].…”