Koichi Kobayashi

A pickup and delivery problem by multiple agents has many applications, such as food delivery service and disaster rescue. In this problem, there are cases where fuels must be considered (e.g., the case of using drones as agents). In addition, there are cases where demand forecasting should be considered (e.g., the case where a large number of orders are carried by a small number of agents). In this paper, we consider an online pickup and delivery problem considering fuel and demand forecasting. First, the pickup and delivery problem with fuel constraints is formulated. The information on demand forecasting is included in the cost function. Based on the orders, the agents’ paths (e.g., the paths from stores to customers) are calculated. We suppose that the target area is given by an undirected graph. Using a given graph, several constraints such as the moves and fuels of the agents are introduced. This problem is reduced to a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) problem. Next, in online optimization, the MILP problem is solved depending on the acceptance of orders. Owing to new orders, the calculated future paths may be changed. Finally, by using a numerical example, we present the effectiveness of the proposed method.

In this article, a nonlinear active dynamic vibration absorber based on passivity‐based energy shaping control is proposed. Using the proposed method, the vibrations that are excited by force and velocity disturbances simultaneously can be controlled. The control law only uses the relative displacement and velocity of the vibration system, which can be easily measured by sensors. The numerical solutions to the partial differential equations are not required in our proposed method. The main idea of the controller's parameters design is to convert a plant system with a nonlinear dynamic vibration absorber into a desired system with multiple virtual skyhook dampers. We also derive the parameters' selection guidelines for the proposed controller. The global asymptotical stability is guaranteed through passivity‐based control theory, although the parameter design is based on linearization. We verify the effectiveness of the proposed controller by some simulations on a cart‐pendulum system.