A mathematical programming approach to collaborative missions with heterogeneous teams

We consider the problem of the joint mission planning in teams of heterogeneous physical agents. The type of missions that we consider are composed of spatially distributed tasks that need to be selected and assigned to the agents for dealing with them. A plan consists of a set of directives specifying who does what, where, when, and for how long. The aim is to optimize system-level performance by explicitly taking into account and exploiting the different sensory-motor characteristics of the agents. We tackle this general problem by proposing a mixed integer linear formulation of it which includes several aspects/constraints that closely model features and requests of realistic scenarios. We present a solution approach based on the combination of a metaheuristic and mathematical programming method that allows to compute high-quality plans within short time, and with formal guarantees on their optimality. The application of the framework is validated in the context of search and rescue missions.