Stochastic Multi-Robot Monitoring on Graphs under Markovian Mobility

Abstract

We study a stochastic multi-robot monitoring problem on a connected graph $G=(V,E)$, where each robot moves according to a Markov chain on $G$ and monitors the closed neighborhood of its current vertex. The performance of $r$ robots is evaluated in steady state via two objectives: average-case coverage (the expected number of covered vertices) and worst-case coverage (the minimum coverage probability over all vertices). We consider three models: independent homogeneous strategies, where all robots share the same stationary distribution; independent heterogeneous strategies, where robots use different stationary distributions; and centralized strategies, allowing arbitrary correlations between robot locations. For the heterogeneous model, we prove that maximizing average coverage is NP-hard even for two robots, and that replicating an easy-to-compute optimal homogeneous strategy yields a \(\left(1-\left(1-\frac{1}{r}\right)^r\right)\)-approximation for both objective functions in the heterogeneous setting; moreover, no polynomial-time algorithm can achieve a ratio better than \(1-\nicefrac{1}{e}\) unless \(\text{P}=\text{NP}\). Centralized strategies can exploit correlations to reduce redundancy. We develop a hierarchy of approximation factors: for any positive integer \(r'\le r\), writing \(r=hr'+b\) with \(0\le b<r'\), block coordination yields a \(1-\left(1-\frac{r'}{r}\right)^h\left(1-\frac{b}{r}\right)\) approximation for both objectives. We also establish NP-hardness and a tight \(1-\nicefrac{1}{e}\) inapproximability bound. Moreover, we prove diminishing-returns properties with respect to the number of robots: a non-increasing-ratio property holds for the average-case objective in all settings, but not for the heterogeneous worst-case objective.