OptaPlanner Shadow Variables for the Vehicle Routing Problem and Task Assignment

Learn how to simplify your OptaPlanner models with shadow variables and tackle otherwise near impossible constraints.

Link to this presentation: http://red.ht/KieLive22

KieLive#22: OptaPlanner Shadow Variables for the Vehicle Routing Problem and Task Assignment

Some OptaPlanner use cases, such as the Vehicle Routing Problem (especially with Time Windows) and Task Assignment use shadow variables. A shadow variable is something that changes during planning, but unlike a genuine planning variable, doesn’t do so freely, it’s not decided by OptaPlanner directly. Instead, it’s value is deterministically defined by the values of the genuine planning variables. For example in VRP, the arrival time of a vehicle at each visit, is determined by the order of the visits of that vehicle and the departure time of the vehicle.

About the invited speaker:
Geoffrey De Smet is the founder and lead of OptaPlanner (www.optaplanner.org), the open source AI constraint solver in Java that is used across the globe to automatically solve employee rostering, vehicle routing, task assignment, maintenance scheduling and other planning problems. He's an international speaker.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/GeoffreyDeSmet

Transcript

1. Shadow variables Shadow variables for VRP for VRP and task assignment and task assignment by Geoffrey De Smet OptaPlanner lead
2. What is a shadow variable? What is a shadow variable? (Genuine) planning variable Integer a with a value range of 1-10
3. What is a shadow variable? What is a shadow variable? (Genuine) planning variable Integer a with a value range of 1-10 Shadow variable Integer b = a + 100
4. What is a shadow variable? What is a shadow variable? (Genuine) planning variable Integer a with a value range of 1-10 Shadow variable Integer b = a + 100 Behavior: If a = 1 then b = 101
5. What is a shadow variable? What is a shadow variable? (Genuine) planning variable Integer a with a value range of 1-10 Shadow variable Integer b = a + 100 Behavior: If a = 1 then b = 101 If a = 2 then b = 102
6. What is a shadow variable? What is a shadow variable? (Genuine) planning variable Integer a with a value range of 1-10 Shadow variable Integer b = a + 100 Behavior: If a = 1 then b = 101 If a = 2 then b = 102 If a = 7 then b = 107
7. Why are shadow variables useful? Why are shadow variables useful? int a; int getA() { return a; } // This is NOT a shadow variable, it's non-simple getter int getB() { return a + 100; }
12. Build-in shadow variables Build-in shadow variables
16. Add Room.lessonList demo
17. Build-in shadow variables Build-in shadow variables @InverseRelationShadowVariable @AnchorShadowVariable Coming soon... @IndexInChainShadowVariable (name undecided)
18. Custom shadow variable Custom shadow variable DEMO DEMO
19. Don't overuse shadow variables Don't overuse shadow variables Shadow vars are de-normalization information duplication
20. Don't overuse shadow variables Don't overuse shadow variables Shadow vars are de-normalization information duplication Shadow vars work incrementally Shadow variable corruption is possible!
21. Don't overuse shadow variables Don't overuse shadow variables Shadow vars are de-normalization information duplication Shadow vars work incrementally Shadow variable corruption is possible! Shadow var Room.getLessonCount() is probably not worth it.
22. Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP)
23. Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows (VRPTW) Windows (VRPTW) Swing demo!
24. VRPTW Customer visit properties VRPTW Customer visit properties Input: readyTime: Time window start dueTime: Time window end serviceTime Change during planning:
25. VRPTW Customer visit properties VRPTW Customer visit properties Input: readyTime: Time window start dueTime: Time window end serviceTime Change during planning: arrivalTime = previousDepartureTime + travelTim
26. VRPTW Customer visit properties VRPTW Customer visit properties Input: readyTime: Time window start dueTime: Time window end serviceTime Change during planning: arrivalTime = previousDepartureTime + travelTim startTime = max(readyTime, arrivalTime
27. VRPTW Customer visit properties VRPTW Customer visit properties Input: readyTime: Time window start dueTime: Time window end serviceTime Change during planning: arrivalTime = previousDepartureTime + travelTim startTime = max(readyTime, arrivalTime departureTime = startTime + serviceTim
28. VRPTW Customer visit properties VRPTW Customer visit properties Input: readyTime: Time window start dueTime: Time window end serviceTime Change during planning: arrivalTime = previousDepartureTime + travelTim startTime = max(readyTime, arrivalTime departureTime = startTime + serviceTim Hard constraint: departureTime <= dueTime
35. VRPTW with lunches VRPTW with lunches Original: arrivalTime = previousDepartureTime + travelTim startTime = max(readyTime, arrivalTime
36. VRPTW with lunches VRPTW with lunches Original: arrivalTime = previousDepartureTime + travelTim startTime = max(readyTime, arrivalTime Extra logic to allow for lunch: If travelTime contains 12:00, add 1 hour to transitTime for lunch. Else serviceTime contains 12:00, add 1 hour to serviceTime for lunch.
37. VRPTW with lunches VRPTW with lunches Original: arrivalTime = previousDepartureTime + travelTim startTime = max(readyTime, arrivalTime Extra logic to allow for lunch: If travelTime contains 12:00, add 1 hour to transitTime for lunch. Else serviceTime contains 12:00, add 1 hour to serviceTime for lunch. All this logic ends up in the VariableListener.
38. Task assignment Task assignment
45. Task assignment Task assignment DEMO DEMO
46. Advanced design patterns Advanced design patterns
62. Getting started Getting started
63. Quick starts Quick starts github.com/kiegroup/optaplanner-quickstarts (https://github.com/kiegroup/optaplanner- quickstarts) $ git clone git@github.com:kiegroup/optaplanner-quickstarts.git ... $ cd optaplanner-quickstarts $ cd quarkus-school-timetabling $ mvn quarkus:dev ...
64. @GeoffreyDeSmet Q & A Q & A Homepage Slides User guide Feedback www.optaplanner.org (https://www.optapl www.optaplanner.org/learn/slides.html (https://www.optaplanner.org/learn/slides www.optaplanner.org/learn/documentatio (https://www.optaplanner.org/learn/docum @GeoffreyDeSmet (https://twitter.com/GeoffreyDeSmet)