Authors:
Sota Tsuiki
;
Keisuke Yoneda
and
Toshiharu Sugawara
Affiliation:
Department of Computer Science and Communication Engineering, Waseda University, Tokyo169855, Japan
Keyword(s):
Multi-agent Patrolling Problem, Negotiation, Task Delegation, Coordination, Periodic Inspection, Scheduled Suspension, Timed Patrol.
Abstract:
We propose a negotiation method that mitigates performance degradation in the multi-agent cooperative patrolling problem not only during planned suspensions for periodic inspection and replacement, but also during the transition period to the suspension. Recent developments in machine and information technologies have led to the expectation of using multiple intelligent agents to control robots. In particular, cooperation between multiple agents is necessary to process tasks that require complex and diverse capabilities or encompass a large environment. Because robots are machines, they need to be regularly inspected and replaced with new ones to prevent unexpected failures and prolong their lifespans. However, suspending agents for such inspections may cause a rapid performance degradation that cannot be neglected in some applications. Such suspensions are usually planned, and the transition period is known in advance, that is, we know which agents will be suspended and when. Our pr
oposed negotiation method allows agents that are scheduled for suspension to hand over important tasks that should not be neglected to other agents. This mitigates the performance degradation during both the transition and suspension periods. The experimental results show that the performance degradation can be significantly reduced compared to existing methods, especially for security surveillance applications.
(More)