Auction-based Task Allocation Mechanisms for Managing Fruit Harvesting Tasks

Abstract

Multi-robot task allocation mechanisms are de-signed to distribute a set of activities fairly amongst a set of robots. Frequently, this can be framed as a multi-criteria optimisation problem, for example minimising cost while maximising rewards. In soft fruit farms, tasks, such as picking ripe fruit at harvest time, are assigned to human labourers. The work presented here explores the application of multi-robot task allocation mechanisms to the complex problem of managing a heterogeneous workforce to undertake activities associated with harvesting soft fruit.