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Optimizing for Transfers in a Multi-vehicle Collection and Delivery Problem

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Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems

Part of the book series: Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics ((STAR,volume 104))

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Abstract

We address the Collection and Delivery Problem (CDP) with multiple vehicles, such that each collects a set of items at different locations and delivers them to a dropoff point. The goal is to minimize either delivery time or the total distance traveled.We introduce an extension to the CDP: what if a vehicle can transfer items to another vehicle before making the final delivery? By dividing the labor among multiple vehicles, the delivery time and cost may be reduced. However, introducing transfers increases the number of feasible schedules exponentially. In this paper, we investigate this Collection and Delivery Problem with Transfers (CDP-T), discuss its theoretical underpinnings, and introduce a two-approximate polynomial time algorithm to minimize total distance travelled. Furthermore, we show that allowing transfers to take place at any location for the CDP-T results in at most a factor of two improvement. We demonstrate our approximation algorithms on large simulated problem instances. Finally, we deploy our algorithms on robots that transfer and deliver items autonomously in an office building.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA

    Brian Coltin

  2. Computer Science Department, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA

    Manuela Veloso

Authors
  1. Brian Coltin
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  2. Manuela Veloso
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Brian Coltin .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics, Drexel University, Philadelphia, USA

    M. Ani Hsieh

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

    Gregory Chirikjian

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Coltin, B., Veloso, M. (2014). Optimizing for Transfers in a Multi-vehicle Collection and Delivery Problem. In: Ani Hsieh, M., Chirikjian, G. (eds) Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems. Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics, vol 104. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-55146-8_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-55146-8_7

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-55145-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-55146-8

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

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