April 2005 | M. Bernardine Dias, Robert Zlot, Nidhi Kalra, and Anthony Stentz
Market-based multirobot coordination has gained significant attention in robotics research. This paper provides an introduction to market-based coordination, a comprehensive review of the state of the art, and a discussion of remaining challenges. Market-based approaches use auction mechanisms to distribute tasks and resources among robots, with each robot acting to maximize its individual profit while improving team efficiency. The paper discusses various aspects of market-based coordination, including planning, dynamic environments, solution quality, scalability, heterogeneous teams, tight coordination, learning and adaptation, and generality. It highlights the strengths and weaknesses of market-based approaches, and identifies key challenges such as replanning in dynamic environments, handling subteams, and ensuring robustness. The paper also discusses the need for formalization of solution quality, efficient auction mechanisms, and the ability to adapt to changing environments. It concludes that market-based approaches are effective for coordinating robot teams, but further research is needed to address remaining challenges and improve their performance in dynamic and complex environments.Market-based multirobot coordination has gained significant attention in robotics research. This paper provides an introduction to market-based coordination, a comprehensive review of the state of the art, and a discussion of remaining challenges. Market-based approaches use auction mechanisms to distribute tasks and resources among robots, with each robot acting to maximize its individual profit while improving team efficiency. The paper discusses various aspects of market-based coordination, including planning, dynamic environments, solution quality, scalability, heterogeneous teams, tight coordination, learning and adaptation, and generality. It highlights the strengths and weaknesses of market-based approaches, and identifies key challenges such as replanning in dynamic environments, handling subteams, and ensuring robustness. The paper also discusses the need for formalization of solution quality, efficient auction mechanisms, and the ability to adapt to changing environments. It concludes that market-based approaches are effective for coordinating robot teams, but further research is needed to address remaining challenges and improve their performance in dynamic and complex environments.