A novel architecture for resource allocation and task execution among autonomous teams
John O. Moody, Robert J. Szczerba · 2003
We present a novel architecture that supports autonomous planning, resource allocation, and task execution for teams of independent entities operating in dynamic, changing environments. A scalable, distributed network of modular team task descriptions and resource dependencies is created and managed in real time. Initially teams are composed of units possessing resource and/or potential task execution assets. Automatic synthesis techniques are employed to create feasible inter-team links of dependency among tasks and resources. This step provides a framework for goal-directed decision making and task planning by human-managed or cybernetic reasoning systems. New higher level cooperating teams arise as an emergent phenomenon of these processes. The scalability and distributed nature of the architecture allows the network to be dynamically modified as tasks are accomplished, goals shift, and new environmental conditions are encountered. The architecture has a wide range of applications in the areas of logistics, flexible manufacturing, process control, autonomous distributed robotics, economics, or any area in which resources are produced and consumed in the goal-directed execution of tasks.