Literature Review

Efficient and effective teamwork amongst autonomous robots in a dynamic environment is a complex and open problem in Artificial Intelligence. During the last twenty to thirty years a number of techniques have been developed for addressing teamwork in closed environments. Other research has focussed on detailed areas of teamwork such as communication, coordination, task allocation, and planning. In this review the specifications and differences between classifications of multiagent and multi-robot systems are defined. Models of behaviour within teams are discussed focussing on collective, cooperative, collaborative and coordinative interaction. This is followed by a review of task and resource allocation methods focussing on the use of markets and auction based controllers. The review concludes by briefly outlining a proposed area of research.