A contract net based intelligent agent system for solving the reactive hoist scheduling problem

Abstract

In this article a new approach for solving the Reactive Hoist Scheduling Problem is proposed. The investigation focuses on the case where multiple hoists, sharing the same rail, are used to convey a single type of jobs along the line according to a given production sequence. It is based on two distinct, though coupled, multi-agent systems. The first system is responsible for making a decision about the input date for the next job, while the second system is concerned with the assignment of transfer operations of jobs between tanks to the hoists. These multiagent systems use two different types of auction mechanisms to attain cooperation. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.