I am working on a simple version of the VRP. The problem is very similar to the simplest example of the VRP found on the Google OR-Tools page; the only difference is that while in the example the objective is to minimize the difference in length between the various routes, in my case I want each of the different routes to be as close as possible to a certain target value. Considering 4 vehicles, the first one should cover about 2000 meters, the second 1500, while the third and fourth should cover 1000 each. To achieve the desired result, I thought of using the routing.AddWeightedVariableMinimizedByFinalizer command, inserting the absolute value of the difference between the target distance and the actual distance covered (abs(objective_distance[n_vehicle] - distance_dimension.CumulVar(routing.End(n_vehicle)),100)) as the minimized variable.
However, when I run the code, I get the classic result if I keep the line distance_dimension.SetGlobalSpanCostCoefficient(10) in the code (1552m for each vehicle), while all the locations to visit are assigned to vehicle 4 if I remove it.
I can't figure out if the problem is related to the definition of the variable to minimize or if I'm missing some line of code that allows the solver to also consider the new variable to minimize. Thank you in advance to anyone who can help me understand the origin of the problem.
For completeness, here is the code, even though it is quite simple:
from ortools.constraint_solver import routing_enums_pb2
from ortools.constraint_solver import pywrapcp
objective_distance = [2000,1500,1000,1000]
def create_data_model():
"""Stores the data for the problem."""
data = {}
data["distance_matrix"] = [
# fmt: off
[0, 548, 776, 696, 582, 274, 502, 194, 308, 194, 536, 502, 388, 354, 468, 776, 662],
[548, 0, 684, 308, 194, 502, 730, 354, 696, 742, 1084, 594, 480, 674, 1016, 868, 1210],
[776, 684, 0, 992, 878, 502, 274, 810, 468, 742, 400, 1278, 1164, 1130, 788, 1552, 754],
[696, 308, 992, 0, 114, 650, 878, 502, 844, 890, 1232, 514, 628, 822, 1164, 560, 1358],
[582, 194, 878, 114, 0, 536, 764, 388, 730, 776, 1118, 400, 514, 708, 1050, 674, 1244],
[274, 502, 502, 650, 536, 0, 228, 308, 194, 240, 582, 776, 662, 628, 514, 1050, 708],
[502, 730, 274, 878, 764, 228, 0, 536, 194, 468, 354, 1004, 890, 856, 514, 1278, 480],
[194, 354, 810, 502, 388, 308, 536, 0, 342, 388, 730, 468, 354, 320, 662, 742, 856],
[308, 696, 468, 844, 730, 194, 194, 342, 0, 274, 388, 810, 696, 662, 320, 1084, 514],
[194, 742, 742, 890, 776, 240, 468, 388, 274, 0, 342, 536, 422, 388, 274, 810, 468],
[536, 1084, 400, 1232, 1118, 582, 354, 730, 388, 342, 0, 878, 764, 730, 388, 1152, 354],
[502, 594, 1278, 514, 400, 776, 1004, 468, 810, 536, 878, 0, 114, 308, 650, 274, 844],
[388, 480, 1164, 628, 514, 662, 890, 354, 696, 422, 764, 114, 0, 194, 536, 388, 730],
[354, 674, 1130, 822, 708, 628, 856, 320, 662, 388, 730, 308, 194, 0, 342, 422, 536],
[468, 1016, 788, 1164, 1050, 514, 514, 662, 320, 274, 388, 650, 536, 342, 0, 764, 194],
[776, 868, 1552, 560, 674, 1050, 1278, 742, 1084, 810, 1152, 274, 388, 422, 764, 0, 798],
[662, 1210, 754, 1358, 1244, 708, 480, 856, 514, 468, 354, 844, 730, 536, 194, 798, 0],
# fmt: on
]
data["num_vehicles"] = 4
data["depot"] = 0
return data
def print_solution(data, manager, routing, solution):
"""Prints solution on console."""
print(f"Objective: {solution.ObjectiveValue()}")
max_route_distance = 0
for vehicle_id in range(data["num_vehicles"]):
index = routing.Start(vehicle_id)
plan_output = f"Route for vehicle {vehicle_id}:\n"
route_distance = 0
while not routing.IsEnd(index):
plan_output += f" {manager.IndexToNode(index)} -> "
previous_index = index
index = solution.Value(routing.NextVar(index))
route_distance += routing.GetArcCostForVehicle(
previous_index, index, vehicle_id
)
plan_output += f"{manager.IndexToNode(index)}\n"
plan_output += f"Distance of the route: {route_distance}m\n"
print(plan_output)
max_route_distance = max(route_distance, max_route_distance)
print(f"Maximum of the route distances: {max_route_distance}m")
def main():
"""Entry point of the program."""
# Instantiate the data problem.
data = create_data_model()
# Create the routing index manager.
manager = pywrapcp.RoutingIndexManager(
len(data["distance_matrix"]), data["num_vehicles"], data["depot"]
)
# Create Routing Model.
routing = pywrapcp.RoutingModel(manager)
# Create and register a transit callback.
def distance_callback(from_index, to_index):
"""Returns the distance between the two nodes."""
# Convert from routing variable Index to distance matrix NodeIndex.
from_node = manager.IndexToNode(from_index)
to_node = manager.IndexToNode(to_index)
return data["distance_matrix"][from_node][to_node]
transit_callback_index = routing.RegisterTransitCallback(distance_callback)
# Define cost of each arc.
routing.SetArcCostEvaluatorOfAllVehicles(transit_callback_index)
# Add Distance constraint.
dimension_name = "Distance"
routing.AddDimension(
transit_callback_index,
0, # no slack
30000, # vehicle maximum travel distance
True, # start cumul to zero
dimension_name,
)
distance_dimension = routing.GetDimensionOrDie(dimension_name)
distance_dimension.SetGlobalSpanCostCoefficient(10)
for n_vehicle in range(data["num_vehicles"]):
routing.AddWeightedVariableMinimizedByFinalizer(abs(objective_distance[n_vehicle] - distance_dimension.CumulVar(routing.End(n_vehicle))),100)
# Setting first solution heuristic.
search_parameters = pywrapcp.DefaultRoutingSearchParameters()
search_parameters.first_solution_strategy = (
routing_enums_pb2.FirstSolutionStrategy.PATH_CHEAPEST_ARC
)
search_parameters.local_search_metaheuristic = (
routing_enums_pb2.LocalSearchMetaheuristic.GUIDED_LOCAL_SEARCH
)
search_parameters.time_limit.seconds = 15
# Solve the problem.
solution = routing.SolveWithParameters(search_parameters)
# Print solution on console.
if solution:
print_solution(data, manager, routing, solution)
else:
print("No solution found !")
if __name__ == "__main__":
main()
This method does not add the variable to the objective.
It just states that if, after the solve, the variable is still not instantiated, it should be fixed to its lower bound.
This post gives a comprehensive list of all objective terms:
Pasting in here:
You can't have a custom cost function, BUT the cost function can integrate:
Misc/Not tested yet: