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Variants of Independence Detection in SAT-Based Optimal Multi-agent Path Finding

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Agents and Artificial Intelligence (ICAART 2017)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 10839))

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Abstract

In multi-agent path finding (MAPF) on graphs, the task is to find paths for distinguishable agents so that each agent reaches its unique goal vertex from the given start while collisions between agents are forbidden. A cumulative objective function is often minimized in MAPF. The main contribution of this paper consists in integrating independence detection technique (ID) into a compilation-based MAPF solver that translates MAPF instances into propositional satisfiability (SAT). The independence detection technique in search-based solvers tries to decompose a given MAPF instance into instances consisting of small groups of agents with no interaction across groups. After the decomposition phase, small instances are solved independently and the solution of the original instance is combined from individual solutions to small instances. The presented experimental evaluation indicates significant reduction of the size of instances translated to the target SAT formalism and positive impact on the overall performance of the solver.

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Acknowledgements

This paper is supported by the joint grant of the Israel Ministry of Science and the Czech Ministry of Education Youth and Sports number 8G15027, and Charles University under the SVV project number 260 333.

We would like thank anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments of [31] which helped us to prepare this extended version of the paper.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tokyo, Japan

    Pavel Surynek

  2. Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University, Prague, Czechia

    Jiří Švancara

  3. Ben Gurion University, Beer-Sheva, Israel

    Ariel Felner

  4. Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel

    Eli Boyarski

Authors
  1. Pavel Surynek
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  2. Jiří Švancara
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  3. Ariel Felner
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  4. Eli Boyarski
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Pavel Surynek .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Jaap van den Herik

  2. University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Ana Paula Rocha

  3. INSTICC, Polytechnic Institute of Setúbal, Setubal, Portugal

    Joaquim Filipe

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Surynek, P., Švancara, J., Felner, A., Boyarski, E. (2018). Variants of Independence Detection in SAT-Based Optimal Multi-agent Path Finding. In: van den Herik, J., Rocha, A., Filipe, J. (eds) Agents and Artificial Intelligence. ICAART 2017. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 10839. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93581-2_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93581-2_7

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-93580-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-93581-2

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