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Solving Multi-Agent Pickup and Delivery Problems using Multiobjective Optimization

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Abstract

Multi-agent pickup and delivery is the problem of allocating tasks for the agents and finding short paths for agents without collisions. These tasks enter the system in different time steps. This article proposes new approaches to this problem based on genetic algorithms in order to optimize the allocation of tasks, minimizing the makespan. We also address this problem as multiobjective, where makespan and service time are minimized. Computational experiments were performed varying the number of agents in a simulated environment of a large-scale warehouse. The results obtained by the proposed approaches were compared with those from the literature and the proposals demonstrated improvements in both objectives.

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Code or data availability

All code and data associated with the current submission is available at https://github.com/carolladeira/MAPD-NSGA.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the financial support provided by CNPq, Capes, FAPEMIG and FAPESP.

Funding

This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES) - Finance Code 001, FAPEMIG (APQ-00337-18 and CEX APQ-02955/1) and CNPq (312682/2018-2 and 311206/2018-2).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Computer Science Department, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, Rua José Lourenço Kelmer, Juiz de Fora, 36036-900, Minas Gerais, Brazil

    Ana Carolina Queiroz, Alex Vieira & Heder Bernardino

Authors
  1. Ana Carolina Queiroz
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  2. Alex Vieira
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  3. Heder Bernardino
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Ana Carolina Ladeira Costa Queiroz, Alex Borges Vieira and Heder Soares Bernardino. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Ana Carolina Ladeira Costa Queiroz and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Ana Carolina Queiroz.

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Alex Vieira and Heder Bernardino contributed equally to this work.

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Queiroz, A.C., Vieira, A. & Bernardino, H. Solving Multi-Agent Pickup and Delivery Problems using Multiobjective Optimization. J Intell Robot Syst 109, 26 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-023-01951-x

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