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A combined robot selection and scheduling problem for flow-shops with no-wait restrictions

Author

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  • Shabtay, Dvir
  • Arviv, Kfir
  • Stern, Helman
  • Edan, Yael

Abstract

This paper addresses a bicriteria no-wait flow-shop scheduling problem with multiple robots transferring jobs between pairs of consecutive machines. The robots share an identical track positioned alongside the machine transfer line. Each robot is assigned to a portion of the tract from which it performs job transfers between all reachable machines. We assume that job processing times are both machine and job independent, that jobs are not allowed to wait between two consecutive machines and that machine idle times are not allowed. We define a combined robot selection and scheduling problem (RSSP) for a set of Q non-identical robots characterized by different costs and job transfer and empty movement times. A solution to the RSSP problem is defined by (i) selecting a set of robots, (ii) assigning each robot to a portion of the track, and (iii) scheduling the robot moves. We define a robot schedule as feasible if all the jobs satisfy the no-wait condition and there are no machine idle times. The quality of the solutions are measured by two criteria (performance measures): makespan and robot selection cost. We study four different variations of the RSSP,one which is shown to be solvable in polynomial time while the other three turn out to be NP-hard. For the NP-hard, we show that a pseudo-polynomial time algorithm and a fully polynomial approximation scheme exists, and derive three important special cases which are solvable in polynomial time. The RSSP has aspects of robot selection, machine-robot assignment and robot movement scheduling. We believe this is the first time that this type of problem has been treated in the literature, and addresses a very important problem in multiple robotic systems operation. Our contribution lies in the formulation, methodology, algorithms for solution and complexity results which jointly treats all aspects of the problem simultaneously without the need to defer to heuristic decomposition methods.

Suggested Citation

  • Shabtay, Dvir & Arviv, Kfir & Stern, Helman & Edan, Yael, 2014. "A combined robot selection and scheduling problem for flow-shops with no-wait restrictions," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 96-107.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jomega:v:43:y:2014:i:c:p:96-107
    DOI: 10.1016/j.omega.2013.07.001
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Dolgui, Alexandre & Kovalev, Sergey & Pesch, Erwin, 2015. "Approximate solution of a profit maximization constrained virtual business planning problem," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 57(PB), pages 212-216.
    2. Fatemi-Anaraki, Soroush & Tavakkoli-Moghaddam, Reza & Foumani, Mehdi & Vahedi-Nouri, Behdin, 2023. "Scheduling of Multi-Robot Job Shop Systems in Dynamic Environments: Mixed-Integer Linear Programming and Constraint Programming Approaches," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    3. Lin, Shih-Wei & Ying, Kuo-Ching, 2016. "Optimization of makespan for no-wait flowshop scheduling problems using efficient matheuristics," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 115-125.
    4. Pan, Quan-Ke & Wang, Ling & Li, Jun-Qing & Duan, Jun-Hua, 2014. "A novel discrete artificial bee colony algorithm for the hybrid flowshop scheduling problem with makespan minimisation," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 42-56.
    5. Klaus Heeger & Danny Hermelin & George B. Mertzios & Hendrik Molter & Rolf Niedermeier & Dvir Shabtay, 2023. "Equitable scheduling on a single machine," Journal of Scheduling, Springer, vol. 26(2), pages 209-225, April.
    6. Oron, Daniel & Shabtay, Dvir & Steiner, George, 2015. "Single machine scheduling with two competing agents and equal job processing times," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 244(1), pages 86-99.
    7. Omri Dover & Dvir Shabtay, 2016. "Single machine scheduling with two competing agents, arbitrary release dates and unit processing times," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 238(1), pages 145-178, March.
    8. Hosseini, Amir & Otto, Alena & Pesch, Erwin, 2024. "Scheduling in manufacturing with transportation: Classification and solution techniques," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 315(3), pages 821-843.
    9. Omri Dover & Dvir Shabtay, 2016. "Single machine scheduling with two competing agents, arbitrary release dates and unit processing times," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 238(1), pages 145-178, March.

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