1,413 research outputs found
A Certified Universal Gathering Algorithm for Oblivious Mobile Robots
We present a new algorithm for the problem of universal gathering mobile
oblivious robots (that is, starting from any initial configuration that is not
bivalent, using any number of robots, the robots reach in a finite number of
steps the same position, not known beforehand) without relying on a common
chirality. We give very strong guaranties on the correctness of our algorithm
by proving formally that it is correct, using the COQ proof assistant. To our
knowledge, this is the first certified positive (and constructive) result in
the context of oblivious mobile robots. It demonstrates both the effectiveness
of the approach to obtain new algorithms that are truly generic, and its
managability since the amount of developped code remains human readable
Certified Universal Gathering in for Oblivious Mobile Robots
We present a unified formal framework for expressing mobile robots models,
protocols, and proofs, and devise a protocol design/proof methodology dedicated
to mobile robots that takes advantage of this formal framework. As a case
study, we present the first formally certified protocol for oblivious mobile
robots evolving in a two-dimensional Euclidean space. In more details, we
provide a new algorithm for the problem of universal gathering mobile oblivious
robots (that is, starting from any initial configuration that is not bivalent,
using any number of robots, the robots reach in a finite number of steps the
same position, not known beforehand) without relying on a common orientation
nor chirality. We give very strong guaranties on the correctness of our
algorithm by proving formally that it is correct, using the COQ proof
assistant. This result demonstrates both the effectiveness of the approach to
obtain new algorithms that use as few assumptions as necessary, and its
manageability since the amount of developed code remains human readable.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1506.0160
Rendezvous of Two Robots with Constant Memory
We study the impact that persistent memory has on the classical rendezvous
problem of two mobile computational entities, called robots, in the plane. It
is well known that, without additional assumptions, rendezvous is impossible if
the entities are oblivious (i.e., have no persistent memory) even if the system
is semi-synchronous (SSynch). It has been recently shown that rendezvous is
possible even if the system is asynchronous (ASynch) if each robot is endowed
with O(1) bits of persistent memory, can transmit O(1) bits in each cycle, and
can remember (i.e., can persistently store) the last received transmission.
This setting is overly powerful.
In this paper we weaken that setting in two different ways: (1) by
maintaining the O(1) bits of persistent memory but removing the communication
capabilities; and (2) by maintaining the O(1) transmission capability and the
ability to remember the last received transmission, but removing the ability of
an agent to remember its previous activities. We call the former setting
finite-state (FState) and the latter finite-communication (FComm). Note that,
even though its use is very different, in both settings, the amount of
persistent memory of a robot is constant.
We investigate the rendezvous problem in these two weaker settings. We model
both settings as a system of robots endowed with visible lights: in FState, a
robot can only see its own light, while in FComm a robot can only see the other
robot's light. We prove, among other things, that finite-state robots can
rendezvous in SSynch, and that finite-communication robots are able to
rendezvous even in ASynch. All proofs are constructive: in each setting, we
present a protocol that allows the two robots to rendezvous in finite time.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figure
Exploration of Finite 2D Square Grid by a Metamorphic Robotic System
We consider exploration of finite 2D square grid by a metamorphic robotic
system consisting of anonymous oblivious modules. The number of possible shapes
of a metamorphic robotic system grows as the number of modules increases. The
shape of the system serves as its memory and shows its functionality. We
consider the effect of global compass on the minimum number of modules
necessary to explore a finite 2D square grid. We show that if the modules agree
on the directions (north, south, east, and west), three modules are necessary
and sufficient for exploration from an arbitrary initial configuration,
otherwise five modules are necessary and sufficient for restricted initial
configurations
Plane Formation by Synchronous Mobile Robots in the Three Dimensional Euclidean Space
Creating a swarm of mobile computing entities frequently called robots,
agents or sensor nodes, with self-organization ability is a contemporary
challenge in distributed computing. Motivated by this, we investigate the plane
formation problem that requires a swarm of robots moving in the three
dimensional Euclidean space to land on a common plane. The robots are fully
synchronous and endowed with visual perception. But they do not have
identifiers, nor access to the global coordinate system, nor any means of
explicit communication with each other. Though there are plenty of results on
the agreement problem for robots in the two dimensional plane, for example, the
point formation problem, the pattern formation problem, and so on, this is the
first result for robots in the three dimensional space. This paper presents a
necessary and sufficient condition for fully-synchronous robots to solve the
plane formation problem that does not depend on obliviousness i.e., the
availability of local memory at robots. An implication of the result is
somewhat counter-intuitive: The robots cannot form a plane from most of the
semi-regular polyhedra, while they can form a plane from every regular
polyhedron (except a regular icosahedron), whose symmetry is usually considered
to be higher than any semi-regular polyhedrdon
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