A swarm based approximated algorithm to the extended generalized assignment problem (E-GAP)

This paper addresses distributed task allocation in complex scenarios modeled using the distributed constraint optimization problem (DCOP) formalism. We propose and evaluate a novel algorithm for distributed task allocation based on theoretical models of division of labor in social insect colonies, called Swarm-GAP. Swarm-GAP was experimented in an abstract centralized simulation environment and in the RoboCup Rescue Simulator. We show that Swarm-GAP achieves similar results to other recent proposed algorithm with a dramatic reduction in communication and computation. Thus, our approach is highly scalable regarding both the number of agents and tasks. Categories and Subject Descriptors D.2.8 [Artificial Intelligence]: Distributed Artificial Intelligence--Multiagent systems General Terms Algorithms, Experimentation Keywords Emergent Behavior, Task and Resource Allocation, Distributed Constraint Processing

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2007
• Where: ATAL
• Authors: Paulo Roberto Ferreira Jr., Felipe S. Boffo, Ana L. C. Bazzan
• Keywords: ATAL 2007, Distributed Constraint Optimization Problem, Intelligent Agents, Social Insect Colonies, Task Allocation