Scheduling twin robots on a line

This article introduces the twin robots scheduling problem (TRSP), in which two robots positioned at the opposite ends of a rail are required to deliver items to positions along the rail, and the objective is to minimize the makespan. A proof of ‐hardness of the TRSP is presented, along with exact and heuristic algorithms. Computational results on challenging instances are provided.Copyright © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 61: 119–130, 2014     

一种应用于移动机器人的路径跟踪控制方法

针对移动机器人的路径跟踪复杂性问题,设计了一种易于实现的控制系统,其中的跟踪策略改进了传统的视线导航算法,使机器人光滑趋近到期望路径,控制器的设计采用基于模糊逻辑的变速度控制和角速度滑模控制,减小了角速度的抖振,并使控制具有一定的智能化特点.实验结果表明,设计的控制系统即可以保证路径跟踪的精度,同时避免了运动控制的不稳定性.     

A balancing problem for mixed model assembly lines with a paced moving conveyor

We state a balancing problem for mixed model assembly lines with a paced moving conveyor as: Given the daily assembling sequence of the models, the tasks of each model, the precedence relations among the tasks, and the operations parameters of the assembly line, assign the tasks of the models to the workstations so as to minimize the total overload time. Several characteristics of the problem are investigated. A line‐balancing heuristic is proposed based on a lower bound of the total overload time. A practical procedure is provided for estimating the deviation of any given line‐balance solution from the theoretical optimum. Numerical examples are given to illustrate the methodology. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2004.     

基于相对观测量的多机器人定位

研究了多机器人队列利用相对观测信息在未知环境中进行同时定位的问题。当队列中某个机器人观测到另外一个或几个机器人时,利用这些信息来同时更新整个队列的位置及协方差矩阵,也即整个队列共享所获得的观测,来得到更精确的位置估计。每个机器人都携带内部及外部传感器,内部传感器感知机器人自身的运动,外部传感器能提供机器人之间的相对观测量,如相对距离和相对方位。利用扩展卡尔曼滤波(EKF)算法融合内部及外部传感器信息,对多机器人队列进行同时定位;并对不同的观测量及机器人个数进行了仿真分析,给出了不同情况下的滤波器结构,研究比较了它们的定位精度。仿真结果表明,利用机器人之间的相对观测信息,可以显著提高定位精度。     

多机器人最大熵博弈协同定位算法

研究了多机器人观测到同一目标时的协同定位问题。建立了各个机器人相对观测一致程度的数学描述模型,进而提出用基于极大熵准则的最大熵博弈获取使相对观测一致程度最优的协同定位方式。针对博弈结果的多样性,相应地改变观测方程的雅克比矩阵,推导了可适应多机器人各种博弈结果的扩展Kalman滤波协同定位算法。仿真实验表明,方法可实现机器人团队在协同定位时有选择、更高效地共享相互间的观测信息;在保证协同定位精度提高的同时有效地消除了多机器人相对观测信息间的冲突。     

Monitoring declining quality of ammunition stockpile under step stress

Most ammunition is produced long before its ultimate consumption and stored in a series of different depots for a considerably long period of time. During storage, the quality of the ammunition stockpile deteriorates proportionally to the condition of the depots. We view different conditions associated with a series of depots as step stress. A random effects logistic regression model is employed to predict the quality of ammunition stockpile in terms of the routing information such as a series of locations and duration of storage of ammunition lots. The resultant prediction model can be used to determine the appropriate time for reorder or renovation of ammunition before the quality becomes substandard. An example is given to illustrate the implementation procedure of the prediction model suggested in this article. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

面向无人环境的机器人生态圈自主任务决策方法

借鉴自然界生态系统的典型特征,提出机器人生态圈概念。通过使集群机器人进行智能协同与复杂演化,涌现自我维持、自我复制与自我进化等生命特征,实现无人条件下的长期生存、繁衍与进化,并执行特定的任务。针对机器人生态圈典型任务场景的自主任务决策需求,分析不同机器学习任务决策方法的特点,建立机器人生态圈自主任务决策的决策树模型和神经网络模型。分析表明,两种模型的正确率均在80%~90%,且均具有良好的稳定性。这说明,机器人生态圈自主任务决策问题可以通过决策树、神经网络等机器学习方法来很好地加以解决,从而为面向无人化场景的任务应用提供技术支持。     

洞库储罐壁局部失稳分析

因储罐使用时间过长,或者在使用管理中操作不当等原因,目前某些洞库储罐出现不同程度的失稳现象,甚至不能正常工作,严重干扰了油库的储存以及收发作业,出现设备闲置现象。根据拉姆公式对失稳现象进行分析探讨,剖析造成失稳的主要因素,针对某洞库罐壁失稳的实际情况,对油库的实际工作提出建议,对于加强储罐的管理工作有重要的参考价值。     

基于DoDAF的空间机器人作战视图研究

介绍了基于DoDAF的体系结构建模方法,采用System Architect工具对空间机器人在轨服务进行了可视化建模,得到了典型的作战视图产品;分析了在轨服务任务单元之间的协同关系,研究了空间机器人在轨服务流程,对空间机器人的在轨服务研究具有一定的参考价值。     

Generation and storage dispatch in electricity networks with generator disruptions

We present methods for optimizing generation and storage decisions in an electricity network with multiple unreliable generators, each colocated with one energy storage unit (e.g., battery), and multiple loads under power flow constraints. Our model chooses the amount of energy produced by each generator and the amount of energy stored in each battery in every time period in order to minimize power generation and storage costs when each generator faces stochastic Markovian supply disruptions. This problem cannot be optimized easily using stochastic programming and/or dynamic programming approaches. Therefore, in this study, we present several heuristic methods to find an approximate optimal solution for this system. Each heuristic involves decomposing the network into several single‐generator, single‐battery, multiload systems and solving them optimally using dynamic programming, then obtaining a solution for the original problem by recombining. We discuss the computational performance of the proposed heuristics as well as insights gained from the models. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 62: 493–511, 2015     

Machine scheduling with pickup and delivery

The coordination of production, supply, and distribution is an important issue in logistics and operations management. This paper develops and analyzes a single‐machine scheduling model that incorporates the scheduling of jobs and the pickup and delivery arrangements of the materials and finished jobs. In this model, there is a capacitated pickup and delivery vehicle that travels between the machine and the storage area, and the objective is to minimize the makespan of the schedule. The problem is strongly NP‐hard in general but is solvable in polynomial time when the job processing sequence is predetermined. An efficient heuristic is developed for the general problem. The effectiveness of the heuristic is studied both analytically and computationally. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2005.     

用体素贴合法构造机器人的三维几何模型

本文介绍了在计算机上采用体素贴合法构造三维几何模型的若干技术问题,包括描述三维形体的数据结构、基本几何形体的生成、部件模型的拼装等内容。研究表明,贴合法本身具有一定的代表性和通用牲,对于构造其它几何模型也是适用的。     

双机械手对称式协调力控制稳定性分析

本文利用双机械手协调内力和外力控制系统的简化模型，分析了在双手紧夹持物体与环境接触时，１） 机械手等效电机的动态特性；２） 双手所夹持物体的刚度；３） 双手所操作物体的动态特性；４） 机械手的采样控制延时；５） 双手的非对称性等系统未建模因素对双手对称式协调外力和内力控制稳定性的影响，并给出仿真结果。此结果与实验结果基本相符。     

Models and algorithms for shuffling problems in steel plants

In this article, we study item shuffling (IS) problems arising in the logistics system of steel production. An IS problem here is to optimize shuffling operations needed in retrieving a sequence of steel items from a warehouse served by a crane. There are two types of such problems, plate shuffling problems (PSP) and coil shuffling problems (CSP), considering the item shapes. The PSP is modeled as a container storage location assignment problem. For CSP, a novel linear integer programming model is formulated considering the practical stacking and shuffling features. Several valid inequalities are constructed to accelerate the solving of the models. Some properties of optimal solutions of PSP and CSP are also derived. Because of the strong NP‐hardness of the problems, we consider some special cases of them and propose polynomial time algorithms to obtain optimal solutions for these cases. A greedy heuristic is proposed to solve the general problems and its worst‐case performances on both PSP and CSP are analyzed. A tabu search (TS) method with a tabu list of variable length is proposed to further improve the heuristic solutions. Without considering the crane traveling distance, we then construct a rolling variable horizon heuristic for the problems. Numerical experiments show that the proposed heuristic algorithms and the TS method are effective. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2012     

The assignment of storage locations to containers for a container stack

Assigning storage locations to incoming or reshuffled containers is a fundamental problem essential to the operations efficiency of container terminals. The problem is notoriously hard for its combinatorial and dynamic nature. In this article, we minimize the number of reshuffles in assigning storage locations for incoming and reshuffled export containers. For the static problem to empty a given stack without any new container arrival, the optimum reshuffle sequence is identified by an integer program (IP). The integer program captures the evolution of stack configurations as a function of decisions and is of interest by itself. Heuristics based on the integer program are then derived. Their competitiveness in accuracy and time are established by extensive numerical runs comparing them with existing heuristics in literature and in practice as well as with extensions of the existing heuristics. Variants of the IP‐based heuristics are then applied to the dynamic problem with continual retrievals and arrivals of containers. Again, numerical runs confirm that the IP‐based heuristic is competitive. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2009     

The fixed charge problem

The fixed charge problem is a nonlinear programming problem of practical interest in business and industry. Yet, until now no computationally feasible exact method of solution for large problems had been developed. In this paper an exact algorithm is presented which is computationally feasible for large problems. The algorithm is based upon a branch and bound approach, with the additional feature that the amount of computer storage required remains constant throughout (for a problem of any given size). Also presented are three suboptimal heuristic algorithms which are of interest because, although they do not guarantee that the true optimal solution will be found, they usually yield very good solutions and are extremely rapid techniques. Computational results are described for several of the heuristic methods and for the branch and bound algorithm.     

The inventory packing problem

We study the problem of finding the minimum number of identical storage areas required to hold n items for which demand is known and constant. The replenishments of the items within a single storage area may be time phased so as to minimize the maximum total storage capacity required at any time. This is the inventory-packing problem, which can be considered as a variant of the well-known bin-packing problem, where one constraint is nonlinear. We study the worst-case performance of six heuristics used for that earlier problem since the recognition version of the inventory-packing problem is shown to be NP complete. In addition, we describe several new heuristics developed specifically for the inventory-packing problem, and also study their worst-case performance. Any heuristic which only opens a bin when an item will not fit in any (respectively, the last) open bin needs, asymptotically, no more than 25/12 (resp., 9/4) times the optimal number of bins. Improved performance bounds are obtainable if the range from which item sizes are taken is known to be restricted. Extensive computational testing indicates that the solutions delivered by these heuristics are, for most problems, very close to optimal in value.     

金属磁记忆管道检测机器人的应用研究

阐述了金属磁记忆检测技术的基本原理及磁记忆检测机器人的研究现状,针对存在的问题,基于形态分析法对不同驱动形式的机器人进行优选。提出了一种适用于150mm管径的螺旋轮式机器人驱动系统,对机器人的动力系统和检测单元进行设计,为长输管道磁记忆检测机器人的结构设计和优化提供了有益参考。     

A generalization of the weighted set covering problem

We study a generalization of the weighted set covering problem where every element needs to be covered multiple times. When no set contains more than two elements, we can solve the problem in polynomial time by solving a corresponding weighted perfect b‐matching problem. In general, we may use a polynomial‐time greedy heuristic similar to the one for the classical weighted set covering problem studied by D.S. Johnson [Approximation algorithms for combinatorial problems, J Comput Syst Sci 9 (1974), 256–278], L. Lovasz [On the ratio of optimal integral and fractional covers, Discrete Math 13 (1975), 383–390], and V. Chvatal [A greedy heuristic for the set‐covering problem, Math Oper Res 4(3) (1979), 233–235] to get an approximate solution for the problem. We find a worst‐case bound for the heuristic similar to that for the classical problem. In addition, we introduce a general type of probability distribution for the population of the problem instances and prove that the greedy heuristic is asymptotically optimal for instances drawn from such a distribution. We also conduct computational studies to compare solutions resulting from running the heuristic and from running the commercial integer programming solver CPLEX on problem instances drawn from a more specific type of distribution. The results clearly exemplify benefits of using the greedy heuristic when problem instances are large. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2005     

Decomposition and hybrid simulated annealing heuristics for the parallel-machine total tardiness problem

A polynomial decomposition heuristic is developed for the parallel-machine tardiness problem (P&sol& sol;T) by extending the decomposition principle embedded in the single-machine tardiness problem (1&sol/T) to a parallel-machine setting. The subproblems generated by the decomposition are solved by an effective heuristic that yields solutions such that the schedule on any individual machine satisfies the single-machine decomposition principle. A hybrid simulated annealing heuristic tailored to the P&sol/T problem is also presented. Computational results demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of the decomposition heuristic. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.