Integrated Mission Specification and Task Allocation for Robot Teams - Design and Implementation

Abstract

As the capabilities, range of missions, and the size of robot teams increase, the ability for a human operator to account for all the factors in these complex scenarios can become exceedingly difficult. Our previous research has studied the use of case-based reasoning (CBR) tools to assist a user in the generation of multi-robot missions. These tools, however, typically assume that the robots available for the mission are of the same type (i.e., homogeneous). We loosen this assumption through the integration of contract-net protocol (CNP) based task allocation coupled with a CBR-based mission specification wizard. Two alternative designs are explored for combining casebased mission specification and CNP-based team allocation as well as the tradeoffs that result from the selection of one of these approaches over the other.

Integrated Mission Specification and Task Allocation for Robot Teams - Part 1: Design and Implementation

“…In addition, a series of experiments in which the CBR and runtime-CNP system is compared against a system in which the ability to dynamically reallocate resources has been lesioned is examined. Results indicate the CBR and runtime-CNP perform significantly better over a number of mission metrics when compared to the baseline systems [25].…”

Self-Management Framework for Mobile Autonomous Systems

“…A case based reasoning approach for generating mission plans [40] builds on the work in [32] and uses a Contract Net Protocol [37] based task allocation while [37] presents the Contract Net Protocol for distributing tasks through negotiation. Each node in the net takes either a manager or contractor role.…”

Refueling Strategies for a Team of Cooperating AUVs

“…As such, multiple vehicles can perform the same tasks with different combinations of sensor information, which allows the team to complete tasks in the event that a vehicle becomes inoperable. In [21], [22], basic CNP is utuluized in the underwater domain. Each vehicle is capable of becoming the CNP manager and all vehicles are able to bid on any task.…”