Simultaneous allocations of multiple tightly-coupled multi-robot tasks to coalitions of heterogeneous robots

Abstract

Most multi-robot task allocation algorithms are concerned with the allocation of individual tasks to single robots. However certain types of tasks require a team of robots for their execution, and for the allocation of such tasks non-conflicting robot teams have to be formed. Most of the existing allocation algorithms for such tasks mainly address the robot-team formation and the tasks are allocated sequentially. However, allocating multiple tasks simultaneously will result in a more balanced distribution of robots into teams. A market based algorithm for simultaneous allocation of multiple tightly couple multi-robot tasks to coalitions of heterogeneous robots are proposed in this paper. The simultaneous allocations are deadlock-free and significant improvement in overall execution time is achieved as demonstrated by empirical evaluations.