We describe an attempt to unify search-based and compilation-based approaches to multi-agent path finding (MAPF) through satisfiability modulo theories (SMT). The task in MAPF is to navigate agents in an undirected graph to given goal vertices so that they do not collide.

In multi-agent path finding (MAPF) the task is to navigate agents from their starting positions to given individual goals. The problem takes place in an undirected graph whose vertices represent positions and edges define the topology. Agents can move to neighbor vertices across edges. In the standard MAPF, space occupation by agents is modeled by a capacity constraint that permits at most one agent per vertex. We suggest an extension of MAPF in this paper that permits more than one agent per vertex. Propositional satisfiability (SAT) models for these extensions of MAPF are studied. We focus on modeling capacity constraints in SAT-based formulations of MAPF and evaluation of performance of these models. We extend two existing SAT-based formulations with vertex capacity constraints: MDD-SAT and SMT-CBS where the former is an approach that builds the model in an eager way while the latter relies on lazy construction of the model.

We discuss milestones on the tour towards DPLL(MAPF), a multi-agent path finding (MAPF) solver fully integrated with the Davis-Putnam-Logemann-Loveland (DPLL) propositional satisfiability testing algorithm through satisfiability modulo theories (SMT). The task in MAPF is to navigate agents in an undirected graph in a non-colliding way so that each agent eventually reaches its unique goal vertex. At most one agent can reside in a vertex at a time. Agents can move instantaneously by traversing edges provided the movement does not result in a collision. Recently attempts to solve MAPF optimally w.r.t. the sum-of-costs or the makespan based on the reduction of MAPF to propositional satisfiability (SAT) have appeared. The most successful methods rely on building the propositional encoding for the given MAPF instance lazily by a process inspired in the SMT paradigm. The integration of satisfiability testing by the SAT solver and the high-level construction of the encoding is however relatively loose in existing methods. Therefore the ultimate goal of research in this direction is to build the DPLL(MAPF) algorithm, a MAPF solver where the construction of the encoding is fully integrated with the underlying SAT solver. We discuss the current state-of-the-art in MAPF solving and what steps need to be done to get DPLL(MAPF). The advantages of DPLL(MAPF) in terms of its potential to be alternatively parametrized with MAPF$^R$, a theory of continuous MAPF with geometric agents, are also discussed.