Uncertainty in optimization is not a new ingredient. Diverse models
considering uncertainty have been developed over the last 40 years.
In our paper we essentially discuss a particular uncertainty model
associated with combinatorial optimization problems, developed in
the 90's and broadly studied in the past years. This approach named
minmax regret (in particular our emphasis is on the robust
deviation criteria) is different from the classical approach for handling
uncertainty, stochastic approach, where uncertainty is modeled
by assumed probability distributions over the space of all possible
scenarios and the objective is to find a solution with good probabilistic
performance. In the minmax regret (MMR) approach, the set of all possible scenarios
is described deterministically, and the search is for a solution that
performs reasonably well for all scenarios, i.e., that has the best
worst-case performance. In this paper we discuss the computational complexity of some classic
combinatorial optimization problems using MMR approach, analyze the
design of several algorithms for these problems, suggest the study
of some specific research problems in this attractive area, and also
discuss some applications using this model.