Bidirectional Temporal Plan Graph: Enabling Switchable Passing Orders for More Efficient Multi-Agent Path Finding Plan Execution

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Su, Yifan, Veerapaneni, Rishi, Li, Jiaoyang
Format: Preprint
Published: 2023
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author Su, Yifan
Veerapaneni, Rishi
Li, Jiaoyang
author_facet Su, Yifan
Veerapaneni, Rishi
Li, Jiaoyang
contents The Multi-Agent Path Finding (MAPF) problem involves planning collision-free paths for multiple agents in a shared environment. The majority of MAPF solvers rely on the assumption that an agent can arrive at a specific location at a specific timestep. However, real-world execution uncertainties can cause agents to deviate from this assumption, leading to collisions and deadlocks. Prior research solves this problem by having agents follow a Temporal Plan Graph (TPG), enforcing a consistent passing order at every location as defined in the MAPF plan. However, we show that TPGs are overly strict because, in some circumstances, satisfying the passing order requires agents to wait unnecessarily, leading to longer execution time. To overcome this issue, we introduce a new graphical representation called a Bidirectional Temporal Plan Graph (BTPG), which allows switching passing orders during execution to avoid unnecessary waiting time. We design two anytime algorithms for constructing a BTPG: BTPG-naïve and BTPG-optimized. Experimental results show that following BTPGs consistently outperforms following TPGs, reducing unnecessary waits by 8-20%.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2401_00315
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Bidirectional Temporal Plan Graph: Enabling Switchable Passing Orders for More Efficient Multi-Agent Path Finding Plan Execution
Su, Yifan
Veerapaneni, Rishi
Li, Jiaoyang
Artificial Intelligence
Multiagent Systems
Robotics
The Multi-Agent Path Finding (MAPF) problem involves planning collision-free paths for multiple agents in a shared environment. The majority of MAPF solvers rely on the assumption that an agent can arrive at a specific location at a specific timestep. However, real-world execution uncertainties can cause agents to deviate from this assumption, leading to collisions and deadlocks. Prior research solves this problem by having agents follow a Temporal Plan Graph (TPG), enforcing a consistent passing order at every location as defined in the MAPF plan. However, we show that TPGs are overly strict because, in some circumstances, satisfying the passing order requires agents to wait unnecessarily, leading to longer execution time. To overcome this issue, we introduce a new graphical representation called a Bidirectional Temporal Plan Graph (BTPG), which allows switching passing orders during execution to avoid unnecessary waiting time. We design two anytime algorithms for constructing a BTPG: BTPG-naïve and BTPG-optimized. Experimental results show that following BTPGs consistently outperforms following TPGs, reducing unnecessary waits by 8-20%.
title Bidirectional Temporal Plan Graph: Enabling Switchable Passing Orders for More Efficient Multi-Agent Path Finding Plan Execution
topic Artificial Intelligence
Multiagent Systems
Robotics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.00315