Pickup and Delivery Problem with Cooperative Robots

Abstract

This paper explores the Pickup and Delivery Problem with Cooperative Robots (PDP-CR), a new interest that has emerged in warehouse settings with automated vehicles where multiple robots must cooperate to complete a task. i.e. when a task requires more than one robot. In PDP-CR, a fleet of identical robots has to handle a set of tasks. Each task consists of a pickup point, a destination, processing time, and the number of robots required. The primary objective is to complete all tasks using the initial robots while minimizing the makespan, representing the time until the last robot returns to the depot. PDP-CR is an NP-hard problem. In this paper, we will propose two MILP formulations that are solved using CPLEX. The primary goal of this paper is to introduce PDPC-CR, develop, test, and compare the mathematical models proposed for it.