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Traffic Dynamics in Multi-Agent Pathfinding: Analysis and Development of Congestion Mitigation Strategies

Research topic/area
Mobile Agents and Robotic Systems
Type of thesis
Bachelor / Master
Start time
01.11.2025
Application deadline
30.04.2026
Duration of the thesis
6 Monate

Description

Field:
Mobile robotics is one of the fastest-growing and most dynam-ic areas in intralogistics. As fleet sizes rapidly increase, the challenge shifts from single-robot navigation to large-scale, cooperative fleet coordination. Ensuring smooth traffic flow, avoiding congestion, and maintaining high system throughput becomes increasingly challeng-ing. At the IFL, we are at the forefront of this development, actively contributing to the industry standard VDA 5050, which defines com-munication between mobile robots and fleet management systems.

Problem Statement:
State-of-the-art Multi-Agent Pathfinding (MAPF) algorithms offer different design principles to coordinate mobile robot fleets, but these principles introduce conflicts when applied to large fleets and dense environments. This thesis focuses on a systematic, simulation-based evaluation of several representative MAPF algo-rithms under varying fleet sizes and layouts. The goal is to identify recurring congestion patterns, scalability limits, and coordination inef-ficiencies arising from their inherent design choices. Based on these insights, the thesis aims to develop and formalize concepts that miti-gate the identified conflicts and improve the overall system through-put.

Requirement

Requirements for students
  • Experience with Python or a similar programming language.
  • Basic understanding of pathfinding or graph algorithms (e.g., A*, Dijkstra) is beneficial.
  • Problem-solving mindset and an independent working style.

Faculty departments
  • Engineering sciences
    Informatics
    Mechanical engineering
    Mechatronics & information technologies
    Mechanical Engineering
  • Economic & law sciences
    Information Engineering
    Business management


Supervision

Title, first name, last name
M. Sc. Marvin Rüdt
Organizational unit
Institute for Material Handling and Logistics (IFL)
Email address
marvin.ruedt@kit.edu
Link to personal homepage/personal page
Website

Application via email

Application documents
  • Curriculum vitae
  • Grade transcript

E-Mail Address for application
Senden Sie die oben genannten Bewerbungsunterlagen bitte per Mail an marvin.ruedt@kit.edu


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