358 research outputs found

    Online Searching with an Autonomous Robot

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    We discuss online strategies for visibility-based searching for an object hidden behind a corner, using Kurt3D, a real autonomous mobile robot. This task is closely related to a number of well-studied problems. Our robot uses a three-dimensional laser scanner in a stop, scan, plan, go fashion for building a virtual three-dimensional environment. Besides planning trajectories and avoiding obstacles, Kurt3D is capable of identifying objects like a chair. We derive a practically useful and asymptotically optimal strategy that guarantees a competitive ratio of 2, which differs remarkably from the well-studied scenario without the need of stopping for surveying the environment. Our strategy is used by Kurt3D, documented in a separate video.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures, 12 photographs, 1 table, Latex, submitted for publicatio

    Approximation Algorithms for the Two-Watchman Route in a Simple Polygon

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    The two-watchman route problem is that of computing a pair of closed tours in an environment so that the two tours together see the whole environment and some length measure on the two tours is minimized. Two standard measures are: the minmax measure, where we want the tours where the longest of them has smallest length, and the minsum measure, where we want the tours for which the sum of their lengths is the smallest. It is known that computing a minmax two-watchman route is NP-hard for simple rectilinear polygons and thus also for simple polygons. Also, any c-approximation algorithm for the minmax two-watchman route is automatically a 2c-approximation algorithm for the minsum two-watchman route. We exhibit two constant factor approximation algorithms for computing minmax two-watchman routes in simple polygons with approximation factors 5.969 and 11.939, having running times O(n^8) and O(n^4) respectively, where n is the number of vertices of the polygon. We also use the same techniques to obtain a 6.922-approximation for the fixed two-watchman route problem running in O(n^2) time, i.e., when two starting points of the two tours are given as input.Comment: 36 pages, 14 figure

    The Visibility Freeze-Tag Problem

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    In the Freeze-Tag Problem, we are given a set of robots at points inside some metric space. Initially, all the robots are frozen except one. That robot can awaken (or ā€œunfreezeā€) another robot by moving to its position, and once a robot is awakened, it can move and help to awaken other robots. The goal is to awaken all the robots in the shortest time. The Freeze-Tag Problem has been studied in different metric spaces: graphs and Euclidean spaces. In this thesis, we look at the Freeze-Tag Problem in polygons, and we introduce the Visibility Freeze-Tag Problem, where one robot can awaken another robot by ā€œseeingā€ it. Furthermore, we introduce a variant of the Visibility Freeze-Tag Problem, called the Line/Point Freeze Tag Problem, where each robot lies on an awakening line, and one robot can awaken another robot by touching its awakening line. We survey the current results for the Freeze-Tag Problem in graphs, Euclidean spaces and polygons. Since the Visibility Freeze-Tag Problem bears some resemblance to the Watchman Route Problem, we also survey the background literature on the Watchman Route Problem. We show that the Freeze-Tag Problem in polygons and the Visibility Freeze-Tag Problem are NP-hard, and we present an O(n)-approximation algorithm for the Visibility Freeze-Tag Problem. For the Line/Point Freeze-Tag Problem, we give a polynomial time algorithm for the special case where all the awakening lines are parallel to each other. We prove that the general case is NP-hard, and we present an O(1)- approximation algorithm

    Complexity of Minimum Corridor Guarding Problems

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    In this paper, the complexity of minimum corridor guarding problems is discussed. These problem can be described as: given a connected orthogo-nal arrangement of vertical and horizontal line segments and a guard with unlimited visibility along a line segment, find a tree or a closed tour with minimum total length along edges of the arrangement, such that if the guard runs on the tree or on the closed tour, all line segments are visited by the guard. These problems are proved to be NP-complete. Keywords: computational complexity, computational geometry, corridor guarding, NP-complet

    Engineering Art Galleries

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    The Art Gallery Problem is one of the most well-known problems in Computational Geometry, with a rich history in the study of algorithms, complexity, and variants. Recently there has been a surge in experimental work on the problem. In this survey, we describe this work, show the chronology of developments, and compare current algorithms, including two unpublished versions, in an exhaustive experiment. Furthermore, we show what core algorithmic ingredients have led to recent successes

    On Romeo and Juliet Problems: Minimizing Distance-to-Sight

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    We introduce a variant of the watchman route problem, which we call the quickest pair-visibility problem. Given two persons standing at points s and t in a simple polygon P with no holes, we want to minimize the distance these persons travel in order to see each other in P. We solve two variants of this problem, one minimizing the longer distance the two persons travel (min-max) and one minimizing the total travel distance (min-sum), optimally in linear time. We also consider a query version of this problem for the min-max variant. We can preprocess a simple n-gon in linear time so that the minimum of the longer distance the two persons travel can be computed in O(log^2 n) time for any two query positions where the two persons lie
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