Scheduling robotic cells with fixed processing times or time windows: Classification, solution approaches, polynomial algorithms and complexity

Robotic cell scheduling has received considerable attention from researchers. Several existing review papers have presented then-existing studies on robotic cell scheduling and related fields from different perspectives. Since the latest review, numerous new results have emerged, contributing significant advancements in recent years. Furthermore, certain features of these problems have not been appropriately addressed. This paper aims to provide an up-to-date review and present our particular perspectives to address recent publications on scheduling robotic cells with fixed processing times or time windows. First, we identify various characteristics of robotic cell scheduling and explain their impact on the structure and complexity. Based on these characteristics, the related robotic cell scheduling studies are classified and compared in various dimensions. Second, we present complexity results, along with both exact and approximation solution techniques, for the robotic cell scheduling problem with time windows or fixed processing times. These results are presented in tabular forms to visually reveal the relationships between different problem configurations and their respective solution approaches. Finally, we discern emerging trends in the realm of robotic cell scheduling research, subsequently indicating prospective directions for future investigations.