Multi-agent system optimisation in factories of the future: cyber collaborative warehouse study
Puwadol Oak Dusadeerungsikul, He Xiang, Maitreya Sreeram, Shimon Y. Nof
Abstract
The rapid advancement of technologies leading to automation 5.0 has challenged manufacturers preparing for factories of the future, including warehouses, which are considered a key element in supply chains. Because of technologies such as warehouse robots, Internet of Things, Internet of Services, and cyber-augmented collaboration, the traditional warehouse system structure has been changed, improving its performances significantly. The challenges, however, are how to design a system with multi-agents and technologies to reach maximum potential. In this study, a new collaborative workflow protocol for cyber collaborative warehouse, called Collaboration Requirement Planning protocol for HUB-CI (CRP-H), is developed for optimising the collaborative workflow of a warehouse multi-agent system. The two phases of CRP-H are designed to answer questions: (1) Which robot(s) should execute which task? and (2) When should this task be executed? Results show (with statistical significance) that under CRP-H, total operational cost reduces by 11.84%, and total weighted completion time reduces by 37.11%. When the system has unplanned requests, CRP-H can still reduce total operational cost by 5.70% and total weighted completion time by 10.11%. Lastly, CRP-H, which enables a human input integrated into the design, can also reduce the total operational cost even when critical information is missing.