Efficient mechanism development for multirobot coordination

Mobile robots are indispensable in computer integrated manufacturing systems which involve flexible automation. Hence robot teams working together on tasks should be made to share the workload efficiently in a cost effective manner. The current scenario is handicapped as it considers only the distance between the robots and the targets, and not much importance is given to the utilisation of the robots. This drawback can be eliminated with the adoption of the proposed methodology. This work formulates a mathematical model and presents a novel approach for multirobot coordination using combinatorial auctions in order to maximise robot utilisation while minimising incurred costs. For coordination tasks robots are considered as bidders and targets are considered as the items to be bid. A simulator has also been created for the same using Visual Basic System. The proposed mechanism is illustrated with a suitable example and the robustness of the mechanism is validated.