An Online Task-Planning Framework Using Mixed Integer Programming for Multiple Cooking Tasks Using a Dual-Arm Robot

Abstract

This work proposes an online task-scheduling method using mixed-integer programming for a multi-tasking problem regarding a dual-arm cooking robot in a controlled environment. Given each task’s processing time, their location in the working space, dependency, the required number of arms, and the kinematic constraints of the dual-arm robot, the proposed optimization algorithm can produce a feasible solution to scheduling the cooking order for each task and for each associated arms so that the total cooking time and the total moving distance for each arm are minimized. We use a subproblem optimization strategy in which the number of tasks to be planned is divided into several groups instead of planning all tasks at the same time. By doing so, the planning time can be significantly decreased, making the algorithm practical for online implementation. The feasibility of our optimization method and the effectiveness of the subproblem optimization strategy were verified through simulated experiments consisting of 30 to 120 tasks. The results showed that our strategy is advantageous in terms of computation time and makespan for large problems.

Cooking Robot Mastery: Learning Online Motion Generation with Active Perception

“…There is some research on cooking according to recipes [40,41] from which we can obtain insights. Some previous studies focused on long-horizon manipulation using a large language model (LLM) to order the task [42] and proposed a motion planning method to consider the way and the order to conduct actions [43,44].…”

Structured Motion Generation with Predictive Learning: Proposing Subgoal for Long-Horizon Manipulation

“…Junge et al [15] addressed the problem of slight variations in the time duration of each of the subtasks by optimizing learnt parameters that relate with the subtask duration. Wang et al [16] and Holladay et al [17] both address the challenge of uncertain position of the object being manipulated.…”