Fast Scheduling of Robot Teams Performing Tasks With Temporospatial Constraints
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Gombolay_TRO_2018.pdf
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8.1 MB
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Author(s)
Gombolay, Matthew C.
Wilcox, Ronald James
Shah, Julie A
Date Issued
February 2018
Journal
IEEE Transactions on Robotics
Publisher
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Citation
Gombolay, Matthew C. et al. “Fast Scheduling of Robot Teams Performing Tasks With Temporospatial Constraints.” IEEE Transactions on Robotics 34, 1 (February 2018): 220–239 © 2018 IEEE
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
The application of robotics to traditionally manual manufacturing processes requires careful coordination between human and robotic agents in order to support safe and efficient coordinated work. Tasks must be allocated to agents and sequenced according to temporal and spatial constraints. Also, systems must be capable of responding on-the-fly to disturbances and people working in close physical proximity to robots. In this paper, we present a centralized algorithm, named 'Tercio,' that handles tightly intercoupled temporal and spatial constraints. Our key innovation is a fast, satisficing multi-agent task sequencer inspired by real-time processor scheduling techniques and adapted to leverage a hierarchical problem structure. We use this sequencer in conjunction with a mixed-integer linear program solver and empirically demonstrate the ability to generate near-optimal schedules for real-world problems an order of magnitude larger than those reported in prior art. Finally, we demonstrate the use of our algorithm in a multirobot hardware testbed.
MIT Department
Lincoln Laboratory
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
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Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1109/TRO.2018.2795034
