2017 International Conference on Intelligent Computing,Instrumentation and Control Technologies (ICICICT)

Application of Game Theory in Path Planning

of Multiple Robots.
Ms.Jasna.S.B Dr. Supriya P Dr. T N P Nambiar
Ph.D scholar, Associate Professor Professor
cb.en.d.eee13003@cb.students.amrita.edu p_supriya@cb.amrita.edu tnp_nambiar@amrita.edu
EEE Dept., Amrita School Of Engineering, Coimbatore
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amrita University, India

Abstract— Game theory is a mathematical discipline which is
applied to areas where the conflicts as well as a coordination is
needed as in economics, politics .Various aspects of game theory,
their solutions based on the type of game theory is discussed in the
paper. A case study for robotic path planning of two robots using
cooperative game theory with static obstacles and with different
probability distribution value and obstacle positions is modeled and
its output is tracked in MATLAB platform. To verify the
performance of Game theory based path planning it is compared with
the popular A * algorithm used in robotic path planning simulated
under similar conditions.
Keywords- Mobile robot agents, Cooperative Game
theory, single shot simultaneous move.
I. INTRODUCTION
Game Theory (GT) is a branch of mathematics that
primarily focuses the action of individuals in a scenario where a
mutually dependent decision is to be made. The decision making
process is involved with the outcome of the action on the individual
and on others. An analogy to the human daily life, where under
different situations decisions are formulated based on the knowledge
available. Centred on the interdependence in the action of
individuals, the game theory formulates a suitable decision.
Several terminologies are commonly used in Game
Theory. The collection of decision makers are known as players in
the game. When there are a set of players they are called as agents in
Game Theory . The determination of movement choice for all the
players collectively known as the outcome of the game. The
preferences of individual players forms the value of the game which
is known to be utility or the pay offs of the game. For each player the
movement in each step is determined by a describing plan known to
be strategy of the game. If there are a set of moves for the agent, the
agent forms the best strategy according to the best response (pay off)
to the given environment. A game is said to be an equilibrium game
when the best responses of all players are in accordance with each
other. If there are more strategies for a particular move then a
probability distribution effectively used to find the best strategy over
a collection of moves which is called as mixed strategy.
GT can again be sub divided into non-cooperative and
cooperative game theory. As the name implies, the non cooperative
GT, the outcome depends on every agents play. There are some
limitations to the non cooperative game theory as it has to consider
all the possible moves in the game. Also the predictions are highly
sensitive to the details. Non cooperative game theory is known as
procedural GT, as it consider all the possible combinational moves
available. The outcome of a non cooperative game analysis will be
based on the process of making offers and counter offers etc.
But the cooperative game is mainly depending on the
grouping of players, coalitions. In cooperative GT, the procedures
and details describes only the outcomes when the players are coming
together with possible combinations of players. Here, the CGT
embodies not only for competition but also for coordination. So, it is
known as combinational Game Theory. It formulates the games
where procedures and concentrations are on the possibilities of
agreement. Here negotiations also came to play.
Section two describes the related work in Game Theory.
Cooperative game theory is explained in section three with the
methods of GT solutions used. Section four gives the MATLAB
simulation results for a case study using preliminary concepts of
game theory along with a comparison with the conventional(
standard) A * algorithm in a similar environment. The conclusions
and future scope of the paper are brought out in Section five.
II. RELATED WORK IN GAME THEORY.
Game theory provides insight to the nature of the robotics
problems and the methods of solutions [1, 2]. GT provides a
compromise or an optimisation among the agents or players by
acquiring the information of different agents for planning as well as
controlling. Thus it gives an optimal solution among the players.
There are some methods for the path planning problems in
the area of soft computing like fuzzy logic [3, 4], Genetic algorithm
based approach [5] and ant colony approach [6]. For all the soft
computing methods the limitation is, the path planning is done with
single variable like distance. The decision making is according to the
single constraint. Among the other methods, the Remodelled A*
algorithms [7] is found to be more relevant as it compares the
movement factor also. Since coordinated movement is happening
with the comparison of different variables, GT may be a better option
in robotic path planning.
Game theory thus gives a trade off between the planning
strategy and control strategy. In robotics or in conflict multi agent
systems [8, 2] the cooperative game theory gives a solution by
considering the payoffs with different combinations. Also, it provides
a consideration on mutual sacrifices among the agents. But for non
cooperative games, each and every movement of every player are
considered independently to solve the goal.
Since game theory is a generalized decision theory, it gives a
statistical modelling. In ref [9, 10] sensor based information
gathering in robotics, statistical modelling and estimations are the
main concerns. That is the main advantage of GT. The different
concepts, definitions and the use of game theory are discussed in
paper [11].
There are so many applications of game theory in the field of

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 2017 International Conference on Intelligent Computing,Instrumentation and Control Technologies (ICICICT)
robotics. When the situations of multiple robot coordination,
information gathering and sensor planning etc. comes, there apply
game theory because it avoids the problem of conflicts. In real world
settings, robots must be automated so as to plan and perform in
dynamics as well as uncertain environments. In robotics so many
uncertainties are there like low sensor accuracy, sensor interfaces,
charging environment, discrepancy between geometric as well as
physical objects. Etc. As discussed in the introduction, game theory
represents a generalization of optimal controlling and decision
making so it provides the following advantages in robot tasks. That is
it insight into the problem nature and suggests the solutions. There
occurs a formulation of payoff between controlling and planning. An
optimisation between conflicts, competition and coordination is
happening. This encourages the statistical modelling in games. In
discrete time systems also the GT is applicable [12]. The Nash
equilibrium policies and best-response policies are given in terms of
solutions for the discrete-time coupled Hamilton–Jacobi equations
[12]. In the other article [13], simultaneous discrete games are played
using exact backward induction algorithm.
In another paper by skrzypczyk [14] , “ A real time collision
free movement coordination proposed using the normal formation of
games “.For unmanned aerial vehicles a pursuit evasion problem was
decided in Hespan heat at 2000 and an extension of that work is done
in 2002 by implementing probabilistic game theoretical frame work
to control a team of vehicles
There are some published works in the field of robotics
with the application of game theory. The key issue of a multi robot
system is the coordination among the robots in an optimized fashion.
There are certain articles which emphasis on the different control
technique in the field of robotic agents using game theory. Looking
deep into the game theory based control, in an article by Bertuceli
L.F and how J.P at 2006 [15], the relevance of dynamic target
searching with the uncertain probability maps are pointed out. In this
article the dynamically changed map is given to the multirobot agent
and the relevance of game theory in such a situation is beautifully
presented.
In the article of “Game theoretic control of robot terms” [16]
by Rosemary Emery Montemerto presented an idea of non
cooperative game theory in robotic path planning on 2005. In 2008,
Yan Ming presented an important and rare idea of multirobot search
by the implementation of GT in his paper “Multi robot searching
using the game theory based approach” [17]. In that article the author
proposed a dynamic programming equation to estimate the utility
function for individual robot. Based on the utility function a non zero
sum game is proposed and in that paper Nash equilibrium and mixed
strategy equilibrium approaches are presented.
. * N is the number of players,
However there are no such works fire fighting area where the
advantages of cooperative game theory can be used. In this work g an
automated team of robots (agents) considering different constraints
for decision making, by taking the advantages of cooperative game
theoretic approach is introduced..
III. COOPERATIVE GAME THEORY IN ROBOTICS.
Since the competition as well as the coordination is
considered in the case of cooperative GT, it is a compatible method
for the robotic area. As discussed, it mainly concentrates on the
cooperation among the players. The game can be described by a
finite set of players ‘N’ and characteristics function having a value, V
which is created by various subsets of the players in the game.
Suppose, N is the group of players and‘s’ is the subset of interacting
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players (cooperating players). Then V(s) will give the value of
characteristics function which is having particular combinations of
the parameters in the player set. Hence one can be represented pair of
cooperative game as (N,V) where N represents a finite set of players
and V represents the value of that particular function. So not only the
value of a subset is taken but also the combination and effectiveness
is also taken into consideration. Also some pay-offs can be added to
the value to improve the overall interaction vectors. The pay off is
denoted usually as xi where ‘x’ is the gain for the player ‘i’. The pay
off can be addedto the group according to the problem of
cooperation.
For a given game (N,V) there exist a value V(N)
which is the overall value created. A pay-off vector is the collection
of numbers, (x1,x2,x3,x4,..... xn) which gives the independent gain for
each player in the game having different combinations of
interactions. After the pay off gain, coalition or different combination
is taken into account. Coalition is the foundational agreement that
binds the different individuals as a coordinated entity. An allocation
must be individually rational. There is a marginal contribution value
for the player which is the amount by which the overall gain value
shrinks when the particular player leaves the game.
The value of a combination can be assigned using a
characteristic equation with optimization concept or priority concept.
For making different coalition values we can have different value
assigning methods like and solution methods, like the core method,
Shapley value method, nucleolus method, bargaining method etc.
The computational complexity increases exponentially as the number
of subset of players and the number of players increases. So for each
situation different value finding methods are taken to consideration.
Here, the agents utility maximization ability to make a choice
is the movement detection criteria. It is the fact that decides the
applicability of multi-agent systems. The concept of single-shot
simultaneous-move [18] game is the simple game theoretic approach
for a multi agent system. In this, all the agents must take one
simultaneous effective action. Each agent receives a utility that is a
cost function of the combinational values of players. A single-shot
game is a good model for multi agent systems where the effective
cost value mostly requires coordination.
In this type of approach for GT, ie, simultaneous move
game each player, i comes to a strategy Ni Î Si, where Si is the
collection of all strategies for player i. These strategies represent the
different values of the player can take. The set of all possible values
by all the player is the strategy profile for that game. Each player set
receives a utility value according to the function or characters we
received. All the player’s utility value depends on the combinations
made by robotic agents. A Game can be characterized by3 factors.
Simply, game, G = {N, β, v}. Where,
*β = {βi}i =1…N; βi = {βi1,… βiMi} is the set of variables available
to player i, and v is the Payoff function, i.e. Assigns each player a
real number payoff for any combination of all players actions.
For example, consider a two player game involving only two
players, i and j. They are often represented using a game matrix such
as the one shown in Fig. 1. Here in the matrix we can see that if
Robot 1 (the one from the rows) is having a variable (may be
reliability) action A and Robot 2 have an action B with the same
variable then player 1 will receive a utility value of 3 according to the
characteristic equation created by max-min concept. While player 2
receives a utility value of 4. The equation can be formed by us
according to the environment or the value can be assigned by our self
as per the GT rules. Since the max- min of the player A isat the same
move of the Min-max of player B,that move will be the best choice
of the game. If the player A has a profit, then the second player will
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 2017 International Conference on Intelligent Computing,Instrumentation and Control Technologies (ICICICT)

have a loss of that much. In this example only the coordination
among the players are explained. This is one form of representation
where the values represent the gain and loss of the players.
A B
A 1,2 3,4
B 3,2 2,1
Fig. 1. A sample two player game matrix
It is possible that a player will choose randomly between its
variables choices, using different prior probabilities for each choice.
These types of strategies are called mixed strategies and they are a
probability distribution over an agent’s actions. It has been shown
that every game has at least one Nash equilibrium, as long as mixed
strategies are allowed. If the system is in equilibrium then no agent
will be tempted to take a different action. In a 2 player game,
consider player A chooses a strategy and plays by it. Player B tries to
learn A's strategy and design his strategy as a best response to it. This
is the concept of cooperation among the players and thus the name
cooperative game theory.
The above mentioned game representation is one form of GT
strategy. In other way the game can be played using zero sum game
matrixes. That is the game matrix is formed by considering the a
threshold value of the game and the combination of player one and
two is carried out in such a way that the effective sum in a particular
row or column is zero. Here for each move in the play firstly the
value is assigned to be +1 if the player has the move and in the same
time the second player goes to a value of -1 as it loses the game. The
sum of the move must be zero in column and row. Here the column
will represent the Game Theory values obtained by player.1 for the
different combination of players. The row will represent the payoff
value of the player.2. The basic zero sum game will be as in Fig.2
R2
R1 -1 +1
+1 -1
Fig.2. Zero sum game representation for a 2 player Game.
Another advantage of cooperative game is that we can
add a marginal contribution idea to familiarize the infinite time of
reasoning in the bargaining ie, if some player have to capture more
than the marginal contribution, then we can set that also in the
cooperative value for the subsets. So we can allocate, bargains and
pay off the values in a cooperative manner to fulfil the requirements
of the game.
set is R1 and R2. That is if R1 gains a movement then R2 will lose the
move.
Formed a grid mapping environment in the game. In each node, for
the next move the robots will communicate according to the pay offs
obtained by comparison. For the payoff calculation, two utilities are
considered. They are probability distribution including the diagonal
grid and minimum moving node according to distance. These utilities
are compared for different combinations among the players. For each
node, if there is any obstacle in path the value of probability in that
grid node will be decreasing according to the calculation of “r”,
where r is the number of moves the robot need to play for reaching
the next grid. So if any obstacle is there in the path the value of
probability is decreasing. The coalition among the robots will check
the maximum probability value and chose that as the next moving
grid. The algorithm for the game is explained below.
Algorithm for the proposed Game Theory approach.
Step.1: The work space is divided into grids.
Step.2: Robot Position, target position and the known obstacle
positions are initialized.
Step.3: P.D value and r value is calculated for each grid position,
(xi,yi ) for all, i>1
Step.4: Coalition values of players are calculated for nearby 8
moves. If obstacles are in path, pay off decreases as utility decreases.
Step.6: Chose the path with best payoff.
Step.7: Step.4 is repeated with (i+1) th grid.
Step.8: If target reached Stop.
Here, a MATLAB simulation environment is taken
for algorithm simulation. MATLAB is a fourth generation
programming language which is used to visualize the output
effectively. In this game a grid mapping system is generated. The
coalition value and the payoffs are calculated according to the
method of game as explained in section 3.The path with the
maximum coalition value is chosen for each move. A grid of size
120x120 is taken for the simulation work in the, MATLAB 2013
version. The simulation is carried out for proposed Game Theory
application with 2, 4, 6, 8 obstacles in the path of robot. Also, for
multiple obstacles the algorithm simulation is carried out. However,
results are portrayed for the 4 and 8 obstacles in Fig. (3-5)
respectively.

IV. CASE STUDY FOR A TWO ROBOT GAME

A two robot game is planned in such a fashion that conflict and

the path planning is carried out by the robot itself. Here two robots
are in a grid environment which has to be automated and select the
path by avoiding obstacles. The basic game is planned by considering
a player set of two robots having different Probability distribution
and distance. Here the payoff value is calculated according to the
comparison between the probability distribution (P.D) and the
distance.
Consider the Game Theory way of solution, and then there are
different methods to solve. In this paper, the usage of Matrix method
Fig.3. MATLAB simulated output for a single robotic agent using G.T
with simultaneous single shot movement is taken. The game Player concept for four known obstacles.

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 2017 International Conference on Intelligent Computing,Instrumentation and Control Technologies (ICICICT)
Fig.4. MATLAB simulated output for two robotic agents using G.T concept
for eight known obstacles.
Fig.5. MATLAB simulated output for multi target, multi obstacle system for
two robotic agents using GT.
In the simulated output, the target position, initial position of
object and the different obstacle positions are fixed first with
different color codes. The object will move to the final target by
avoiding the obstacles by comparing the probability game and will
reach the target with minimal time elapse. The simulation results are
compared with that of A* remodeled algorithm under identical
environment. Table 1 summarizes the execution time in both cases.
TABLE.I Execution time comparison for Remodeled A* algorithm and
Proposed GT approach.
From the table 1 it is observed that for the similar environment
analysis the time elapsed is less for the proposed GT approach.
Looking to the conventional methods of A* algorithm, as
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done in ref [13], the proposed method is more suitable for the robot
path planning because of the following reasons. Firstly, only the
distance values are taken for the calculation in A* algorithm. But in
GT based path planning in addition to distance as many combinations
of different strategies and the payoff can be taken. Secondly, there
was no coordination among the players in A* algorithm, only a
competition is present. But in GT based algorithm, coordination,
combination and an optimization are considered. Moreover, by
referring the comparison table, it is seen that the Game Theoretic
concept is much better for the robotic path planning in its speed of
operation.
V. CONCLUSION.
Several attributes of Game Theory and concepts of
Cooperative Game Theory are discussed in the paper. A simulation
study of two robots with 2,4,6,8 and multi static obstacles in the path
with a grid type environment is investigated with different
probability distribution value and with least distance as the main
criteria. The result is compared with that of Remodeled A* algorithm
in the same environment. The comparison with the popular A *
algorithm indicates that Cooperative GT approach is faster in terms
of distance travelled.
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