A distributed tasks allocation scheme in multi-UAV context

Abstract

This paper deals with the task allocation problem in multi-robot systems. We propose a completely distributed architecture, where robots dynamically allocate their tasks while they are building their plans. We first focus on the problem of simple "goto" tasks allocation: our approach involves an incremental task allocation algorithm based on the Contract-Net protocol. We introduce a parameter called equity coefficient in order to equilibrate the workload between the different robots and to control the triggering of the auction process. Then, we address the problem raised by temporal constraints between tasks by dynamically specifying temporary hierarchies among the tasks. Tests run in simulation quantify the benefits of our improvements.