In this paper, we introduced a flexible team structure for periodic team synchronization (PTS) domains. The structure allows for multi-agent tasks using homogeneous agents to be decomposed into flexible roles. Roles are organized into formations, and agents can fill any role in any formation. Agents dynamically change roles and formations in response to changing environments. The team structure includes pre-planning for frequent situations, and agents act individually, but keep the team's goals in mind. This flexible team structure builds upon our team agent architecture, which maintains both an internal and world state, and a set of internal and external behaviors. Coordination is achieved through limited communication and pre-determined procedures as part of a locker-room agreement.
Our teamwork structure will apply in PTS domains such as hospital/factory maintenance, multi-spacecraft missions, search and rescue, and battlefield combat. We presented the implementation of our approach in the robotic soccer domain, which we have used as a substrate to our research. We participated in the RoboCup-97 simulator and small-size real robot competitions. Our flexible team structure approach was developed in the simulator team and subsequently also successfully used in the real robot team.