Variants of independence detection in SAT-based optimal multi-agent path finding

Pavel Surynek, Jiří Švancara, Ariel Felner, Eli Boyarski

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

In multi-agent path finding (MAPF) on graphs, the task is to find paths for distinguishable agents so that each agent reaches its unique goal vertex from the given start while collisions between agents are forbidden. A cumulative objective function is often minimized in MAPF. The main contribution of this paper consists in integrating independence detection technique (ID) into a compilation-based MAPF solver that translates MAPF instances into propositional satisfiability (SAT). The independence detection technique in search-based solvers tries to decompose a given MAPF instance into instances consisting of small groups of agents with no interaction across groups. After the decomposition phase, small instances are solved independently and the solution of the original instance is combined from individual solutions to small instances. The presented experimental evaluation indicates significant reduction of the size of instances translated to the target SAT formalism and positive impact on the overall performance of the solver.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationAgents and Artificial Intelligence - 9th International Conference, ICAART 2017, Revised Selected Papers
EditorsJoaquim Filipe, Jaap van den Herik, Ana Paula Rocha
PublisherSpringer Verlag
Pages116-136
Number of pages21
ISBN (Print)9783319935805
DOIs
StatePublished - 2018
Event9th International Conference on Agents and Artificial Intelligence, ICAART 2017 - Porto, Portugal
Duration: 24 Feb 201726 Feb 2017

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Volume10839 LNAI
ISSN (Print)0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)1611-3349

Conference

Conference9th International Conference on Agents and Artificial Intelligence, ICAART 2017
Country/TerritoryPortugal
CityPorto
Period24/02/1726/02/17

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature.

Funding

This paper is supported by the joint grant of the Israel Ministry of Science and the Czech Ministry of Education Youth and Sports number 8G15027, and Charles University under the SVV project number 260 333. We would like thank anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments of [31] which helped us to prepare this extended version of the paper. Acknowledgements. This paper is supported by the joint grant of the Israel Ministry of Science and the Czech Ministry of Education Youth and Sports number 8G15027, and Charles University under the SVV project number 260 333.

FundersFunder number
Czech Ministry of Education Youth and Sports8G15027
Israel Ministry of Science
Univerzita Karlova v Praze260 333
Ministerstvo Školství, Mládeže a Tělovýchovy
Ministry of science and technology, Israel

    Keywords

    • Cost optimality
    • Independence detection (ID)
    • Makespan optimality
    • Multi-agent path-finding (MAPF)
    • Path-finding on grids
    • Propositional satisfiability (SAT)
    • SAT encodings
    • Sum-of-costs optimality

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