Coordination is essential to achieving good performance in cooperative multiagent systems. To date, most work has focused on either implicit or explicit coordination mechanisms, while relatively little work has focused on the benefits of combining these two approaches. In this work we demonstrate that combining explicit and implicit mechanisms can...
In this work we present a multiagent Fleet Coordination Problem (FCP). In this formulation, agents seek to minimize the fuel consumed to complete all deliveries while maintaining acceptable on-time delivery performance. Individual vehicles must both (i) bid on the rights to deliver a load of goods from origin to destination...
Recent work has shown humanoid robots with spinal columns, instead of rigid torsos, benefit from both better balance and an increased ability to absorb external impact. Similarly, snake robots have shown promise as a viable option for exploration in confined spaces with limited human access, such as during power plant...
Innovation is a key element for a product to achieve market success, but identifying it within product or even defining the term is a difficult task. Identifying innovation has been approached in many different ways. Experts in design engineering may identify innovative designs based on an analysis of a product's...
Recent advances in multiagent learning have led to exciting new capabilities spanning fields as diverse as planetary exploration, air traffic control, military reconnaissance, and airport security. Such algorithms provide a tangible benefit over traditional control algorithms in that they allow fast responses, adapt to dynamic environments, and generally scale well....
Multiagent learning with cooperative coevolutionary algorithms is a critical area of research, and is relevant to many real-world applications including air traffic control, distributed sensor network control, and game-theoretic applications such as border patrol. A key difficulty in multiagent learning is the credit assignment problem, where the impact of each...
Tensegrity structures are composed of pure compressional elements that are connected via a network of pure tensional elements. The concept of tensegrity promises numerous advantages to the field of robotics. Tensegrity robots are, however, notoriously difficult to control due to their oscillatory nature and nonlinear interaction between the components. Multiagent...
Cooperative multiagent systems are used as solution concepts in many application domains including air traffic control, satellite communications, and extra planetary exploration. As systems become more distributed and complex, we observe three phenomena. First, these systems cannot be accurately modeled, rendering traditional model based control methods inadequate. Second, system parameters...
This thesis is the combination of two research publications working toward a unified strategy in which the design of complex engineered systems can be completed using a multiagent coordination approach. Current engineered system modeling techniques segment large complex models into multiple groups to be simulated independently. These methods restrict the...
Complex engineered systems design is a collaborative activity. To design a system, experts from the relevant disciplines must work together to create the best overall system from their individual components. This situation is analogous to a multiagent system in which agents solve individual parts of a larger problem. Current multiagent...