# A Distributed Version of the Hungarian Method for Multi-Robot Assignment

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1805.08712 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1805.08712/

## Key facts

- Cited by 7 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 22 May 2018.

## Built on by (most cited first, 7 of 7)

- [Multi-agent assignment via state augmented reinforcement learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.01782/) (2024)
- [Decentralized Vision-Based Autonomous Aerial Wildlife Monitoring](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.15038/) (2025)
- [Task Allocation using a Team of Robots](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.09650/) (2022)
- [Decentralizing Coordination in Open Vehicle Fleets for Scalable and Dynamic Task Allocation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.10965/) (2024)
- [Uncertainty-Aware Task Allocation for Distributed Autonomous Robots](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.10350/) (2021)
- [SPACE: A Python-based Simulator for Evaluating Decentralized Multi-Robot Task Allocation Algorithms](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.04230/) (2024)
- [Pro-Routing: Proactive Routing of Autonomous Multi-Capacity Robots for Pickup-and-Delivery Tasks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.24325/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

In this paper, we propose a distributed version of the Hungarian Method to solve the well known assignment problem. In the context of multi-robot applications, all robots cooperatively compute a common assignment that optimizes a given global criterion (e.g. the total distance traveled) within a finite set of local computations and communications over a peer-to-peer network. As a motivating application, we consider a class of multi-robot routing problems with "spatio-temporal" constraints, i.e. spatial targets that require servicing at particular time instants. As a means of demonstrating the theory developed in this paper, the robots cooperatively find online, suboptimal routes by applying an iterative version of the proposed algorithm, in a distributed and dynamic setting. As a concrete experimental test-bed, we provide an interactive "multi-robot orchestral" framework in which a team of robots cooperatively plays a piece of music on a so-called orchestral floor.