A distributed algorithm for balanced multi-robot task allocation

In this paper the problem of static multi-robot task allocation is addressed. It is concerned with the distribution of static tasks in an environment to robots such that the robots complete the tasks in an optimal fashion. The cost of completing a task is proportional to the distance travelled by a robot to visit that task. This problem is of particular importance in multi-robot systems because finding an optimal solution is NP-hard. Earlier work has paid less attention towards load balanced task allocation. In this paper, a completely distributed algorithm is proposed. A travelling salesman tour (TST) considering all task locations is computed using distributed genetic algorithm. The TST is partitioned into fragments that are distributed amongst the robots using a novel auction algorithm. The proposed algorithm is compared with a state of the art algorithm in simulation. The results thus obtained substantiate the fact that the proposed algorithm shows improved performance in terms of load balanced distribution of tasks to the individual robots in multi-robot system.