Multi-Robot Traffic Management using MIP Path Negotiation Scheduler

Abstract

Globally, the use of mobile robots is increasing in various fields such as delivery, logistics, and medical care, and accordingly, the importance of technology to efficiently utilize the number of autonomous mobile robots (AMR) rather than just one is also growing. Because AMR has high autonomy compared to automated guided vehicles (AGV), it has high usability but requires more difficult technology. Therefore, in this paper, we suggest a method to solve the deadlock situation and reduce task time in a condition where multiple robots work simultaneously in a narrow space. For this, a normalized grid area was assumed, and the Mixed Integer Programming (MIP) model was designed to solve the problem by generating the optimal path for each robot in the deadlock situation. In addition, to verify the designed model, experiments were conducted in an environment very similar to the real world using the Robot Operating System (ROS) and GAZEBO simulation, and finally verified the performance of the proposed method.