论文标题
使用优先级继承具有临时优先级的多代理拾取和交付问题的无僵硬方法
Deadlock-Free Method for Multi-Agent Pickup and Delivery Problem Using Priority Inheritance with Temporary Priority
论文作者
论文摘要
本文通过扩展使用回溯(PIBT)方法扩展优先级继承,以使其适用于更一般的环境,从而为多代理拾取和交付问题(MAPD问题)提出了一种控制方法。 PIBT是一种有效的算法,它介绍了每个代理商的优先级,并且在每个时间段,代理,按优先级降序顺序,仅通过与本地代理商的通信来确定下一个时间段的下一个相邻位置。不幸的是,PIBT仅适用于以双重连接区域建模的环境,如果它包含死端,例如树状路径,则PIBT可能会导致僵局。但是,在实际环境中,有许多死胡同的路径,例如存储材料的货架以及将位置装载/卸载到运输卡车上。我们提出的方法使MAPD任务可以在具有某些树状路径的环境中执行,而无需僵局,同时保留了PIBT功能。它是通过允许代理人具有暂时的优先级并限制树木中代理商的运动来做到这一点。首先,我们证明代理商可以始终无僵局进行交付。我们的实验表明,即使在不适用PIBT的环境中,提出的方法也非常有效,即通过将它们与使用众所周知的令牌传递方法作为基线进行比较。
This paper proposes a control method for the multi-agent pickup and delivery problem (MAPD problem) by extending the priority inheritance with backtracking (PIBT) method to make it applicable to more general environments. PIBT is an effective algorithm that introduces a priority to each agent, and at each timestep, the agents, in descending order of priority, decide their next neighboring locations in the next timestep through communications only with the local agents. Unfortunately, PIBT is only applicable to environments that are modeled as a bi-connected area, and if it contains dead-ends, such as tree-shaped paths, PIBT may cause deadlocks. However, in the real-world environment, there are many dead-end paths to locations such as the shelves where materials are stored as well as loading/unloading locations to transportation trucks. Our proposed method enables MAPD tasks to be performed in environments with some tree-shaped paths without deadlock while preserving the PIBT feature; it does this by allowing the agents to have temporary priorities and restricting agents' movements in the trees. First, we demonstrate that agents can always reach their delivery without deadlock. Our experiments indicate that the proposed method is very efficient, even in environments where PIBT is not applicable, by comparing them with those obtained using the well-known token passing method as a baseline.