f-Aware Conflict Prioritization Improved Heuristics For Conflict-Based Search

Eli Boyarski, Ariel Felner, Pierre Le Bodic, Daniel Harabor, Peter J. Stuckey, Sven Koenig

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Conflict-Based Search (CBS) is a leading two-level algorithm for optimal Multi-Agent Path Finding (MAPF). The main step of CBS is to expand nodes by resolving conflicts (where two agents collide). Choosing the 'right' conflict to resolve can greatly speed up the search. CBS first resolves conflicts where the costs (g-values) of the resulting child nodes are larger than the cost of the node to be split. However, the recent addition of high-level heuristics to CBS and expanding nodes according to f = g + h reduces the relevance of this conflict prioritization method. Therefore, we introduce an expanded categorization of conflicts, which first resolves conflicts where the f-values of the child nodes are larger than the f-value of the node to be split, and present a method for identifying such conflicts. We also enhance all known heuristics for CBS by using information about the cost of resolving certain conflicts with only a small computational overhead. Finally, we experimentally demonstrate that both the expanded categorization of conflicts and the improved heuristics contribute to making CBS even more efficient.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication35th AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, AAAI 2021
PublisherAssociation for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence
Pages12241-12248
Number of pages8
ISBN (Electronic)9781713835974
StatePublished - 2021
Event35th AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, AAAI 2021 - Virtual, Online
Duration: 2 Feb 20219 Feb 2021

Publication series

Name35th AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, AAAI 2021
Volume14A

Conference

Conference35th AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, AAAI 2021
CityVirtual, Online
Period2/02/219/02/21

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Artificial Intelligence

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