Finding Second Hierarchy Point for Cooperative Multi-Vehicles using P-median and Voronoi Diagram Vertices

Abstract

Thanks to the recent technology advances and market growth in robotics and delivery services, unmanned delivery problems have expanded to a cooperative multi-vehicle problem. Unlike the conventional Heterogeneous Delivery Problem, cooperative multi-vehicle problem requires finding an intermediate point where the multi-vehicles can meet or stop. In this paper, we investigate a cooperative vehicle scenario with one courier vehicle and five mobile delivery robots. The courier vehicle move from a warehouse to the second hierarchy point, five mobile delivery vehicles are dropped off from the courier vehicle to transport the goods right to the doorstep of the customer, i.e., the destination. In this paper, we present P-median method, and the Voronoi diagram vertices method. We also compare and analyze the characteristics and results of each method using real map data. Through simulation and numerical analysis, the results of this research shows the potential benefits of applying the Voronoi diagram vertices methodology to real-time environments.