Multi-robot dynamic role assignment based on path cost

Robot soccer is one such task and it provides a unique challenge for multi-robot research. Robot soccer teams consist of a number of robots each performing a different role within the team. The roles discussed in this paper are: goalie, defender, special defender, center, supporter and attacker. These roles are two often statically assigned to the robots at the start of the game. Techniques based on path cost can be used to assign these roles dynamically to allow the team to adopt the optimal behavior for each situation. A strategy can be chosen based on robot and ball location which in turn determines which roles should be used in play. Once the roles are defined, they will be assigned to the best robot for each role in turn based on role importance. The approach has been successfully developed for Strive 3D, our team for the RoboCup 3D-simulation league which changed to 6 VS 6 from 3 VS 3 in 2010. This paper presents the role assignment based on path cost employed and the favorable results obtained.