This project focuses on deploying a set of autonomous robots to efficiently service tasks that arrive sequentially in an environment over time. Each task is serviced when the robot visits the corresponding task location. Robots can then redeploy while waiting for the next task to arrive. The objective is to redeploy the robots taking into account the expected response time to service tasks that will arrive in the future.
In this research, we are targeting two main applications: healthcare robots that can provide on-demand patient care, and autonomous ride-sharing for urban transportation. We have developed novel algorithms that optimize robot performance to balance the expected time to respond to a new task arrival and the total energy consumption of the fleet of robots.