Simultaneous Task Execution and Formation Reconfiguration in Multirobot Systems

To combine the advantages of multirobot task allocation (MRTA) in teams and formations, we propose a novel dual task allocation approach for multirobot formations. This work ensures that the task execution of a single robot and the formation reconfiguration of multiple robots are carried out simultaneously. Considering these two scenarios, the Auction and Kuhn-Munkres Algorithms are used for task allocation. The former is used to assign tasks to suitable robots, considering the type of task and robot, and the cost of a collision-free path. The latter assigns the position set of the desired formation to the remaining robots. In addition, to adapt to the dynamic changes in the number of robots in the formation, the formation structure is redefined through the graph theory. Finally, this method successfully solved the formation reconfiguration problem when the robot left the formation after receiving the task or returned to the formation after completing the task. Simulation results show that our approach can achieve the desired functions while ensuring the stability of the formation and has a certain scalability for small-scale systems.