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Decentralized Multi-agent Path Selection Using Minimal Information

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Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems

Part of the book series: Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics ((STAR,volume 112 ))

Abstract

This work studies conflict avoidance between moving, non-communicating agents with minimum sensing information. While safety can be provided by reactive obstacle avoidance methods for holonomic systems, deadlock avoidance requires reasoning over different homotopic paths in cluttered scenes. A method to compute the “interaction cost” of a path is proposed, which considers only the neighboring agents’ observed positions. Minimizing the interaction cost in a prototypical challenge with two agents moving through two corridors from opposing sides guarantees the selection of non-conflicting paths. More complex scenes, however, are more challenging. This leads to a study of alternatives for decentralized path selection. Simulations indicate that following a “minimum-conflict” path given the other agents’ observed positions provides deadlock avoidance. A scheme that selects between the minimum-conflict path and a set of shortest paths given their interaction cost improves path quality while still achieving deadlock avoidance. Finally, learning to select between the minimum-conflict and one of the shortest paths allows agents to be adaptive to the behavior of their neighbors and can be achieved using regret minimization.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, USA

    Andrew Kimmel & Kostas Bekris

Authors
  1. Andrew Kimmel
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  2. Kostas Bekris
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Correspondence to Kostas Bekris .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Nomi, Ishikawa, Japan

    Nak-Young Chong

  2. Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, Daejeon, Korea (Republic of)

    Young-Jo Cho

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© 2016 Springer Japan

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Kimmel, A., Bekris, K. (2016). Decentralized Multi-agent Path Selection Using Minimal Information. In: Chong, NY., Cho, YJ. (eds) Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems. Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics, vol 112 . Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-55879-8_24

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-55879-8_24

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Tokyo

  • Print ISBN: 978-4-431-55877-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-4-431-55879-8

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