Optimization of Elderly Meal Delivery Routes Considering Heterogeneity

Abstract

With the intensification of aging, smart elderly care increasingly plays an irreplaceable role in alleviating the pressure of elderly care. Providing meal delivery services for the elderly with the help of smart tools could help solve the dining problems of the elderly. Considering heterogeneity within the elderly population, this paper considers those who have meals at home and those who choose to eat at community service centers—the two dining locations encompassing different time windows. This study investigated the path optimization problem of the joint delivery of elderly meals by trucks and robots. At the same time, it considered the battery capacity of the robots and constructed a mixed-integer programming model to minimize the total cost of the system. For large-scale problems, an improved adaptive large neighborhood search algorithm was used, which integrated the ant colony algorithm to solve them. The investigation confirmed the feasibility and effectiveness of the algorithm. Based on the research results, this paper offers management and key stakeholders practical guidance for implementing elderly meal delivery.

Keywords

heterogeneity of the elderly robot battery joint delivery vehicle routing problem improved adaptive large neighborhood search algorithm

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bai

Lei

New Trends in Population Aging and Challenges for China’s Sustainable Development. China Economic Journal, Vol. 13, No. 1, 2020, pp. 3–23.

Feng

Glinskaya

Chen

Gong

Qiu

Yip

Long-Term Care System for Older Adults in China: PolicyL, challenges, and Future Prospects. The Lancet, Vol. 396, No. 10259, 2020, pp. 1362–1372.

Eggersdorfer

Akobundu

Bailey

R. L.

Shlisky

Beaudreault

A. R.

Bergeron

Blancato

R. B.

Hidden Hunger: Solutions for America’s Aging Populations. Nutrients, Vol. 10, No. 9, 2018, pp. 1210–1210.

Nkurunziza

Mchiza

Z. J. R.

Zembe

Meals on Wheels: Promoting Food and Nutrition Security among Older Persons in Cape Town, South Africa. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Vol. 20, No. 3, 2023, p. 2561.

Lin

Bakker

Leung

Robust Meal Delivery Service for the Elderly: A Case Study in Hong Kong. Scientific Reports, Vol. 12, No. 1, 2022, p. 21546.

Zidu

Xiaowei

Sun

Guo

Lai

Kang

Effectiveness of Personalized Meal Recommendation in Improving Dietary Behaviors of Chinese Community-Dwelling Elders: Study Protocol for a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial. Trials, Vol. 25, No. 1, 2024, p. 252.

Kasper

J. D.

Wolff

J. L.

Skehan

Care Arrangements of Older Adults: What They Prefer, What They Have, and Implications for Quality of Life. The Gerontologist, Vol. 59, No. 5, 2019, pp. 845–855.

Health Commission, Ministry of Civil Affairs, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Notice of the National Health Commission of the Ministry of Civil Affairs of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Issuing the Action Plan for the Development of Smart and Healthy Elderly Care Industry (2021-2025). Health Commission, Ministry of Civil Affairs, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Beijing, 2021. https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/2021-10/23/content_5644434.htm.

Jiajing

Intelligent Distribution Transportation Route Planning Considering Traffic Congestion. IEEE Intelligent Transportation System Magazine, Vol. 6, No. 3, 2024,1 pp. 96–110.

10.

Yaohan

Zou

De Koster

Cheng

T. C. E.

Performance Estimation and Operating Policies in a Truck-Based Autonomous Mobile Robot Delivery System. International Journal of Production Research, Vol. 62, No. 24, 2024, pp. 8835–8857.

11.

Korosec

Kiwibot Delivery Robots Head to San Jose With New Partners Shopify and Ordermark. TechCrunch News, 21 July 2020. https://techcrunch.com/2020/07/21/kiwibot-delivery-robots-head-to-san-jose-with-new-partners-shopify-and-ordermark/.

12.

Korosec

Starship Technologies is Sending its Autonomous Robots to More Cities as Demand for Contactless Delivery Rises. TechCrunch News, 9 April 2020. https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/09/starship-technologies-is-sending-its-autonomous-robots-tomore-cities-as-demand-for-contactless-delivery-rises/.

13.

Shaohua

Jakob

Shudong

Electric Van-Based Robot Deliveries With En-Route Charging. European Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 317, No. 3, 2024, pp. 806–826.

14.

Alverhed

Hellgren

Isaksson

Olsson

Palmqvist

Flodén

Autonomous Last-Mile Delivery Robots: A Literature Review. European Transport Research Review, Vol. 16, No. 1, 2024, p. 4.

15.

Srinivas

Ramachandiran

Rajendran

Autonomous Robot-Driven Deliveries: A Review of Recent Developments and Future Directions. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Vol. 165, 2022, p. 10234.

16.

Hong

Yin

Collaborative Truck-Robot Routing Problem With Meal Delivery for the Elderly on the Personalized Needs. International Journal of Industrial Engineering Computations, Vol. 15, No. 3, 2024, pp. 615–626.

17.

Papadaki

Wakeham

Ali

Armstrong

M. E. G.

Willis

Cameron

Accessing Meals on Wheels: A Qualitative Study Exploring the Experiences of Service Users and People Who Refer Them to the Service. Health Expectations, Vol. 27, No. 1, 2024, p. e13943.

18.

Juckett

L. A.

Hariharan

Dodonova

D. C.

Klaus

Rowe

Burak

Mason

Bunck

Implementing a Community-Based Initiative to Improve Nutritional Intake Among Home-Delivered Meal Recipients. Nutrients, Vol. 14, No. 5, 2022, p. 944.

19.

Ullevig

S. L.

Sosa

E. T.

Crixell

Greenwald

Marceaux

J Friedman

Impact of Home-Delivered Meals on Nutrition Status and Nutrient Intake among Older Adults in Central Texas. The Journal of Nutrition, Health & Aging, Vol. 22, No. 7, 2018, pp. 861–868.

20.

Walsh

S. E.

Weaver

M. F.

Chubinski

Meals on Wheels Clients: Measurable Differences in the Likelihood of Aging in Place or Being Hospitalized. Health Affairs, Vol. 43, No. 3, 2024, pp. 408–415.

21.

Cheng

Zheng

Wang

Huang

Guo

, et al. The Association Between Time-Restricted Eating and Arterial Stiffness Status in Community-Dwelling Elderly Chinese Individuals. Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases, Vol. 34, No. 5, 2024, pp. 1217–1225.

22.

Lin

Zhang

The Value of the Physical Internet on the Meals-on-Wheels Delivery System. International Journal of Production Economics, Vol. 248, 2022, p. 108459.

23.

Min

Minghao

Hanbin

Vehicle Routing Problem for Fresh Products Distribution Considering Customer Satisfaction Through Adaptive Large Neighborhood Search. Computers and Industrial Engineering, Vol. 190, 2024, p. 110022.

24.

Kallehauge

Formulations and Exact Algorithms for the Vehicle Routing Problem With Time Windows. Computers and Operations Research, Vol. 35, No. 7, 2008, pp. 2307–2330.

25.

Tan

K. C.

Lee

L. H.

Zhu

Q. L.

Heuristic Methods for Vehicle Routing Problem With Time Windows. Artificial Intelligence in Engineering, Vol. 15, No. 3, 2001, pp. 281–295.

26.

Jianxia

Ruochen

Ruinan

Elastic Strategy-Based Adaptive Genetic Algorithm for Solving Dynamic Vehicle Routing Problem With Time Windows. IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, Vol. 24, No. 12, 2023, p. 13930.

27.

Lehmann

Winkenbach

A Matheuristic for the Two-Echelon Multi-Trip Vehicle Routing Problem With Mixed Pickup and Delivery Demand and Time Windows. Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies, Vol. 160, 2024, p. 104522.

28.

Zhou

Bian

Zhang

Two-Echelon Time-Dependent Vehicle Routing Problem With Simultaneous Pickup and Delivery and Satellite Synchronization. Computers and Operations Research, Vol. 167, 2024, p. 106600.

29.

Zhou

Zhang

Two-echelon vehicle routing problem with direct deliveries and access time windows. Expert Systems with Applications, Vol. 244, No. 2, 2023, p. 121150.

30.

Zhou

Zhang

Zhou

A MILP Model and Heuristic Method for the Time-Dependent Electric Vehicle Routing and Scheduling Problem With Time Windows. Journal of Cleaner Production, 2024, 434: 140188. Expert Systems with Applications, Vol. 244, 2024, p. 121150.

31.

Karakatic

Optimizing Nonlinear Charging Times of Electric Vehicle Routing With Genetic Algorithm. Expert Systems with Applications, Vol. 164, 2021, p. 114039.

32.

Heimfarth

Ostermeier

Hubner

A Mixed Truck and Robot Delivery Approach for the Daily Supply of Customers. European Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 303, 2022, pp. 401–442.

33.

Shen

Shao

A Multi-Objective Optimization Model for Medical Waste Recycling Network Design Under Uncertainties. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Vol. 184, 2024, p. 103492.

34.

Wang

Luo

Fan

Zhen

The Multidepot Vehicle Routing Problem With Intelligent Recycling Prices and Transportation Resource Sharing. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Vol. 185, 2024, p. 103503.

35.

Zhang

Zhou

Fang

Yang

A Novel Collaborative Electric Vehicle Routing Problem With Multiple Prioritized Time Windows and Time-Dependent Hybrid Recharging. Expert Systems with Applications, Vol. 244, 2024, p. 122990.

36.

Alam

M. R.

Guo

A Review on the Charging Station Planning and Fleet Operation for Electric Freight Vehicles. Computing Research Repository, arXiv:2311.16419, 2023.

37.

Chase

C. M.

Chu

A. G.

The Flying Sidekick Traveling Salesman Problem: Optimization of Drone-Assisted Parcel Delivery. Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies, Vol. 54, 2015, pp. 86–109.

38.

Murray

C. C.

Raj

The Multiple Flying Sidekicks Traveling Salesman Problem: Parcel Delivery with Multiple Drones. Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies, Vol. 110, 2020, pp. 368–398.

39.

Kitjacharoenchai

Min

B-C.

Lee

Two Echelon Vehicle Routing Problem with Drones in Last Mile Delivery. International Journal of Production Economics, Vol. 225, 2019, pp. 107598–107598.

40.

Hemmelmayr

V. C.

Cordeau

J. F.

Crainic

T. G.

An Adaptive Large Neighborhood Search Heuristic for Two-Echelon Vehicle Routing Problems Arising in City Logistics. Computers and Operations Research, Vol. 39, No. 12, 2012, pp. 3215–3228.

41.

Wei

Wenjing

Collaborative Truck-Robot Routing Problem With Meal Delivery for the Elderly on the Personalized Needs. International Journal of Industrial Engineering Computations, Vol. 15, 2024, pp. 615–626.

42.

Stvtzle

Hoos

H. H.

Max-Minant Systems. Future Generation Computer Systems, Vol. 16, No. 19, 2000, pp. 889–891.

43.

Ropke

Pisinger

An Adaptive Large Neighborhood Search Heuristic for the Pickup and Delivery Problem With Time Windows. Transportation Science, Vol. 40, No. 4, 2006, pp. 455–472.

44.

Černý

Thermodynamical Approach to the Traveling Salesman Problem: An Efficient Simulation Algorithm. Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, Vol. 45, 1985, pp. 41–51.

45.

Kirkpatrick

Gelatt

Vecchi

Optimization by Simulated Annealing. Science, Vol. 220, No. 4598, 1983, pp. 671–680.

46.

Dellaert

N. P.

Dashty Saridarq

van Woensel

Crainic

T. G.

Branch-and-Price–Based Algorithms for the Two-Echelon Vehicle Routing Problem With Time Windows. Transportation Science, Vol. 53, No. 2, 2019, pp. 463–479.

47.

Puchinger

Sun

Two-Echelon Urban Deliveries Using Autonomous Vehicles. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Vol. 141, 2020, p. 102018.