Auction-based multi-robot task allocation in COMSTAR

Over the past few years, swarm based systems have emerged as an attractive paradigm for building large scale distributed systems composed of numerous independent but coordinating units. In our previous work, we have developed a protoype system called COMSTAR (Cooperative Multi-agent Systems for automatic TArget Recognition) using a swarm of unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs) that is capable of identifying targets in software simulations of reconnaissance operations. Experimental results from the simulations of the COMSTAR system show that task selection among the UAVs is a crucial operation that determines the overall efficiency of the system. Previously described techniques for task selection among swarm units use a centralized server such as a ground control station to coordinate the activities of the swarm units. However, such systems are not truly distributed since the behavior of the swarm units is predominantly directed by the centralized server’s task allocation algorithm. In thi...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2007
• Where: ATAL
• Authors: Matthew Hoeing, Prithviraj Dasgupta, Plamen V. Petrov, Stephen O'Hara
• Keywords: ATAL 2007, Auction-based Algorithm, Swarm Units, Task Selection