Abstract：Since the centralized scheduling approaches,there are some problems,such as poor reliability,low efficiency in information transmission and difficult to apply in large-scale systems. a distributed scheduling approach based on multi-agent system( MAS) technology for automated guided vehicles system( AGVS) was proposed,the related elements of MAS such as the architecture of MAS for AGVS scheduling problem,the agents behaviors,consultation mechanism,bid evaluation were designed carefully. The performance of the approach was improved by allowing vehicle agents exchange jobs and allowing job agent reaction conditionally. The approach based on MAS was compared to more traditional scheduling approaches in an extensive simulation experiment,it is demonstrated that the proposed approach has better environmental adaptability,more stable performance under the different environments.

Keyword：automated guided vehicles system(AGVS);distributed scheduling;multi-agent system(MAS);agent;