The multi-robot path planning problem, or multi-agent path planning problem, has been studied for many years. There are a large number of academic papers exploring solutions from various perspectives. Although these papers are still far from product-level functionality, they can serve as a starting point for related explorations. Here are some classic literatures on robot path planning.Sharon, Guni, et al. "Conflict-based search for optimal multi-agent pathfinding." Artificial intelligence 219 (2015): 40-66.
Bnaya, Zahy, and Ariel Felner. "Conflict-oriented windowed hierarchical cooperative A." 2014 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA). IEEE, 2014.
Li, Jiaoyang, et al. "Lifelong multi-agent path finding in large-scale warehouses." Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence. Vol. 35. No. 13. 2021.
Here are some key technical terms in the field.
Complete (Completeness): Refers to the property that an algorithm is guaranteed to find a solution when one exists. If an algorithm lacks completeness, it may return "no solution" even when a valid solution exists (i.e., the problem is solvable).
Optimal (Optimality): Means that an algorithm not only finds a solution but also ensures it is the optimal one (e.g., the solution with minimal cost, shortest path, etc.).
Bounded Sub-optimal: Allows solutions that are sub-optimal within a specified bound. For example, a solution with a cost no more than 1.2 times the optimal solution is considered bounded sub-optimal.
Lifelong: Refers to scenarios where an agent receives new goals after completing a previous one or handles multiple goals in sequence (e.g., first going to point A, then to point B).
One-shot: Contrasts with "lifelong," referring to a single planning task without subsequent or sequential goals.
Anytime: Applies to scenarios with limited time, where the algorithm first returns a sufficiently good solution within a specified time frame. If more time is available, it iteratively refines the solution to achieve better optimality (e.g., generating improved results through multiple iterations).
Online: Generally refers to planning while executing, rather than pausing the robot during planning, executing the planned path, and then pausing again for subsequent planning.
Offline: Generally refers to executing a path only after complete planning is finished.
Roadmap: A topological graph of connected paths, distinct from grid or chessboard-style maps.
Dynamic: Note that in this context, it typically refers to "dynamics" rather than "dynamic environments." For example, "two-order dynamic" indicates that a robot cannot accelerate or decelerate infinitely (i.e., it cannot instantaneously move at a specified speed or stop abruptly).