Abstract
Various ambient assisted living (AAL) technologies have been proposed for improving the living conditions of elderly people. One of them is to introduce robots to reduce dependency on support staff. The tasks commonly encountered in a healthcare facility such as a care home for elderly people are heterogeneous and are of different priorities. A care home environment is also dynamic and new emergency priority tasks, which if not attended shortly may result in fatal situations, may randomly appear. Therefore, it is better to use a multi-robot system (MRS) consisting of heterogeneous robots than designing a single robot capable of doing all tasks. An efficient task allocation algorithm capable of handling the dynamic nature of the environment, the heterogeneity of robots and tasks, and the prioritisation of tasks is required to reap the benefits of introducing an MRS. This paper proposes Consensus Based Parallel Auction and Execution (CBPAE), a distributed algorithm for task allocation in a system of multiple heterogeneous autonomous robots deployed in a healthcare facility, based on auction and consensus principles. Unlike many of the existing market based task allocation algorithms, which use a time extended allocation of tasks before the actual execution is initialised, the proposed algorithm uses a parallel auction and execution framework, and is thus suitable for highly dynamic real world environments. The robots continuously resolve any conflicts in the bids on tasks using inter-robot communication and a consensus process in each robot before a task is assigned to a robot. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the CBPAE by comparing its simulation results with those of an existing market based distributed multi-robot task allocation algorithm and through experiments on real robots.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
AlShebli, B.K., Gilbert, E., Karahalios, K.: The social implications of an assisted living reminder system. In: Schuler, D. (ed.) Online Communities and Social Computing, volume 4564, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, pp 239–249. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg (2007)
Argyle, M., Casbeer, D.W., Beard, R.: A multi-team extension of the consensus-based bundle algorithm. In: Proceedings American Control Conference (ACC), pp. 5376–5381 (2011)
Arslan, G., Marden, J.R., Shamma, J.S.: Autonomous vehicle-target assignment: a game-theoretical formulation. ASME. J. Dyn. Syst., Meas. Control 129(5), 584–596 (2007)
Berman, S., Halasz, A., Ani Hsieh, M., Kumar, V.: Optimized stochastic policies for task allocation in swarms of robots. IEEE Trans. Robot. 25(4), 927–937 (2009)
Bertuccelli, L.F., Choi, H.L., Cho, P., How, J.P.: Real-time multi-UAV task assignment in dynamic and uncertain environments. In: Proceedings AIAA Guidance Navigation and Control Conf., pp. 1–16. Chicago (2009)
Blazewicz, J., Domschke, W., Pesch, E.: The job shop scheduling problem: conventional and new solution techniques. Eur. J. Op. Res. 93(1), 1–33 (1996)
Bovet, D.P., Cesati, M.: Understanding the Linux kernel, 2nd edn. O’Reilly & Associates, Inc., Sebastopol (2002)
Broadbent, E., Tamagawa, R., Kerse, N., Knock, B., Patience, A., MacDonald, B.: Retirement home staff and residents’ preference for healthcare robots. In: Proceedings 18th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, pp. 645–650. Toyama, Japan (2009)
Chapman, A.C., Micillo, R.A., Kota, R., Jennings, N.R.: Decentralised dynamic task allocation : a practical game theoretic approach. In: Proceedings 8th International Conference Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS), pp. 915–922. Budapest, Hungary (2009)
Choi, H.L., Brunet, L., How, J.P.: Consensus-based decentralized auctions for robust task allocation. IEEE Trans. Robot. 25(4), 912–926 (2009)
Das, G.P., Mcginnity, T.M., Coleman, S.A., Behera, L.: A fast distributed auction and consensus process for allocation of prioritised tasks in multi-robot systems. In: Proceedings Irish Conf. Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science (AICS), pp. 244–253 (2011)
Das, G.P., Mcginnity, T.M., Coleman, S.A., Behera, L.: A fast distributed auction and consensus process using parallel task allocation and execution. In: Proceedings IEEE/RSJ International Conference Intelligence Robotics System (IROS), pp. 4716–4721. San Francisco (2011)
Dautenhahn, K., Woods, S., Kaouri, C., Walters, M.L., Koay, K.L., Werry, I.: What is a robot companion- friend, assistant or butler?. In: Proceedings IEEE/RSJ International Conference Intelligence Robotics System (IROS), pp. 1192–1197 (2005)
Dias, M.B.: Traderbots: A new paradigm for robust and efficient multirobot coordination in dynamic environments. Ph.D. thesis, Pittsburgh, PA, USA (2004)
Dias, M.B., Stentz, A.: A free market architecture for distributed control of a multirobot system. In: Proceedings 6th International Conference Intelligence Autonomous System (IAS), pp. 115–122 (2000)
Dias, M.B., Zlot, R., Kalra, N., Stentz, A.: Market-based multirobot coordination - a survey and analysis. Proceedings IEEE (Special Issue on Multi-Robot Systems) 94(7), 1257–1270 (2006)
Flandorfer, P.: Population ageing and socially assistive robots for elderly persons : The importance of sociodemographic factors for user acceptance. Int. J. Popul. Res. 2012 (2012)
Gerkey, B.P., Mataric, M.J.: Sold!: Auction methods for multirobot coordination. IEEE Trans. Robot. Autom. 18(5), 758–768 (2002)
Gerkey, B.P., Mataric, M.J.: A formal analysis and taxonomy of task allocation in multi-robot systems. Int. J. Robot. Res. 23(9), 939–954 (2004)
Gerkey, B.P., Vaughan, R.T., Howard, A.: The player/stage project: tools for multi-robot and distributed sensor systems. In: Proceedings International Conference Advanced Robotics (ICAR), pp. 317–323. Coimbra, Portugal (2003)
Hart, P.E., Nilsson, N.J., Raphael, B.: A formal basis for the heuristic determination of minimum cost paths. IEEE Trans. Syst. Sci. Cybern. 4(2), 100–107 (1968)
Intille, S.S., Larson, K., Tapia, E.M., Beaudin, J.S., Kaushik, P., Nawyn, J., Rockinson, R.: Using a live-in laboratory for ubiquitous computing research. In: Fishkin, K., Schiele, B., Nixon, P., Quigley, A. (eds.) Pervasive Computing, volume 3968, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, pp 349–365. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg (2006)
Jayawardena, C., Kuo, I.H., Unger, U., Igic, A., Wong, R., Watson, C.I., Stafford, R., Broadbent, E., Tiwari, P., Warren, J., Sohn, J., MacDonald, B.A.: Deployment of a service robot to help older people. In: Proceedings IEEE/RSJ International Conference Intelligence Robotics Systems (IROS), pp. 5990–5995 (2010)
Jianping, C., Yang, Y., Yunbiao, W.: Multi-robot task allocation based on robotic utility value and genetic algorithm. In: Proceedings IEEE International Conference Intelligence Computing and Intelligence Systems, pp. 256–260 (2009)
Johnson, L.B., Ponda, S.S., Choi, H.L., How, J.P.: Improving the efficiency of a decentralized tasking algorithm for UAV teams with asynchronous communications. In: Proceedings AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference, pp. 1–22. Toronto, Canada (2010)
Koenig, S., Tovey, C., Lagoudakis, M.G., Markakis, V., Kempe, D., Keskinocak, P., Kleywegt, A.J., Meyerson, A., Jain, S.: The power of sequential single-item auctions for agent coordination. In: Proceedings AAAI National Conference Artificial Intelligence pp. 1625–1629 (2006)
Lagoudakis, M.G., Berhault, M., Koenig, S., Keskinocak, P., Kleywegt, A.J.: Simple auctions with performance guarantees for multi-robot task allocation. In: Proceedings IEEE/RSJ International Conference Intelligence Robotics Systems (IROS), pp. 698–705 (2004)
Lerman, K., Jones, C., Galstyan, A., Mataric, M.J.: Analysis of dynamic task allocation in multi-robot systems. Int. J. Robot. Res. 25(3), 225–241 (2006)
Golfarelli, M., Maio, D., Rizzi, S.: Multi-agent path planning based on task-swap negotiation. In: Proceedings 16th UK Planning and Scheduling SIG Workshop. Durham, England (1997)
Mercker, T., Casbeer, D.W., Millet, P.T., Akella, M.R.: An extension of consensus-based auction algorithms for decentralized, time-constrained task assignment. In: Proceedings American Control Conference (ACC), pp. 6324–6329 (2010)
Milgrom, P.: Putting auction theory to work: The simultaneous ascending auction. J. Polit. Econ. 180(2), 245–272 (2000)
Ngo-The, A., Ruhe, G.: Optimized resource allocation for software release planning. IEEE Trans. Software Eng. 35(1), 109–123 (2009)
Nugent, C.D., Finlay, D.D., Fiorini, P., Tsumaki, Y., Prassler, E.: Editorial: Home automation as a means of independent living. IEEE Trans. Autom. Sci. Eng. 5(1), 1–9 (2008)
Oestreicher, L., Eklundh, K.S.: User expectations on human-robot co-operation. In: Proceedings 15th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, pp. 91–96. Hatfield, UK (2006)
Ozkil, A.G., Fan, Z., Dawids, S., Aans, H., Kristensen, J.K., Christensen, K.H.: Service robots for hospitals : A case study of transportation tasks in a hospital. In: Proceedings IEEE International Conference Automated and Logistics, pp. 289–294 Shenyang, China (2009)
Parsons, S., Rodriguez-Aguilar, J.A., Klein, M.: Auctions and bidding: A guide for computer scientists. ACM Computing Surveys (CSUR) 43(2), 10:1–10:59 (2011)
Patel, S., Kientz, J., Jones, B., Price, E., Mynatt, E., Abowd, G.: An overview of the aware home research initiative at the Georgia Institute of Technology. In: Proceedings International Future Design Conference Global Innovations in Macro- and Micro-Environments for the Future, pp. 169–181. Seoul, Korea (2007)
Ponda, S., Redding, J., Choi, H., How, J., Vavrina, M., Vian, J.: Decentralized planning for complex missions with dynamic communication constraints. In: Proceedings of the 2010 American Control Conference (ACC), pp. 3998–4003. (2010)
Quigley, M., Gerkey, B.P., Conley, K., Faust, J., Foote, T., Leibs, J., Berger, E., Wheeler, R., Ng, A.Y.: ROS: An open-source Robot Operating System. In: Proceedings Open-Source Software workshop of Int. Conf. Robot. Autom. (ICRA) (2009)
Ray, C., Mondada, F., Siegwart, R.: What do people expect from robots? In: Proceedings IEEE/RSJ Int. Conf. Intell. Rob. Syst. (IROS), pp. 3816–3821 (2008)
Rossum, G.v.: Python website. http://www.python.org/, (1990-2013)
Sandholm, T.: Algorithm for optimal winner determination in combinatorial auctions. Artif. Intell. 135, 1–54 (2002)
Sariel-Talay, S., Balch, T.R., Erdogan, N.: Multiple traveling robot problem: A solution based on dynamic task selection and robust execution. IEEE/ASME Trans. Mechatronics 14(2), 198–206 (2009)
Shah, K., Meng, Y.: Communication-efficient dynamic task scheduling for heterogeneous multi-robot systems. In: Proceedings of the 2007 International Symposium on Computational Intelligence in Robotics and Automation, pp. 230–235. IEEE (2007), doi:10.1109/CIRA.2007.382855
Stav, E., Walderhaug, S., Mikalsen, M., Hanke, S., Benc, I.: Development and evaluation of SOA-based AAL services in real-life environments: A case study and lessons learned. Int. J. Med. Inform., 1–25 (2011)
Tang, F., Parker, L.E.: A complete methodology for generating multi-robot task solutions using ASyMTRe-D and market based task allocation. In: Proceedings IEEE International Conference Robotics Automated (ICRA), pp. 3351–3358 (2007)
Vydyanathan, N., Krishnamoorthy, S., Sabin, G.M., Catalyurek, U.V., Kurc, T., Sadayappan, P., Saltz, J.H.: An integrated approach to locality-conscious processor allocation and scheduling of mixed-parallel applications. IEEE Trans. Parallel and Distributed Syst. 20, 1158–1172 (2009)
Zhang, K., Collins, E., Shi, D.: Centralized and distributed task allocation in multi-robot teams via a stochastic clustering auction. ACM Trans. Auton. Adapt. Syst. 7(2), 21:1–21:22 (2012)
Zhang, K., Collins, E.G., Barbu, A.: A novel stochastic clustering auction for task allocation in multi-robot teams. In: Proceedings of the 2010 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, pp. 3300–3307. IEEE (2010), doi:10.1109/IROS.2010.5652799
Zheng, T., Yang, T.: Optimal ant colony algorithm based multi-robot task allocation and processing sequence scheduling. In: Proceedings 7th World Congress on Intelligence Control and Automated, pp. 5693–5698 (2008)
Zlot, R., Stentz, A.: Market-based complex task allocation for multirobot teams. In: Proceedings 24th US Army Science Conference - Transformational Science and Technology for the Current and Future Force, pp. 169–176. World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd (2006)
Zuluaga, M., Vaughan, R.: Modeling multi-robot interaction using generalized occupancy grids, with application to reducing spatial interference. In: Proceedings IEEE International Conference Robotics Automated (ICRA), pp. 1922–1927 (2008)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Das, G.P., McGinnity, T.M., Coleman, S.A. et al. A Distributed Task Allocation Algorithm for a Multi-Robot System in Healthcare Facilities. J Intell Robot Syst 80, 33–58 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-014-0154-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-014-0154-2