Multiple robots task allocation for cleaning a large public space

Abstract

This paper presents a mathematical formulation of the problem of cleaning a large public space with multiple robots, along with a procedural solution based on task reallocation. The task in this problem is the cleaning zone. A group of robots are assigned to each cleaning zones according to the amount of Resource constraints make cleaning robots stop operation periodically, which can incur a mission failure or deterioration of the mission performance. In our solution approach, continuous operation is assured by replacing robots having resource problems with standby robots by task reallocation. Two resource constraints are considered in our formulation: the battery capacity and the garbage bin size. We describe and compare the performance of three task reallocation strategies: All-At-Once, Optimal-Vector, and Performance-Maximization. The performance measures include remaining garbage volume, cleaning quality, and cleaning time. Task allocation algorithms are tested by simulation in an area of 7,000m2 composed of 4 cleaning zones, and the Performance-Maximization strategy marked the best performance.