107 research outputs found
Polygon Exploration with Time-Discrete Vision
With the advent of autonomous robots with two- and three-dimensional scanning
capabilities, classical visibility-based exploration methods from computational
geometry have gained in practical importance. However, real-life laser scanning
of useful accuracy does not allow the robot to scan continuously while in
motion; instead, it has to stop each time it surveys its environment. This
requirement was studied by Fekete, Klein and Nuechter for the subproblem of
looking around a corner, but until now has not been considered in an online
setting for whole polygonal regions.
We give the first algorithmic results for this important algorithmic problem
that combines stationary art gallery-type aspects with watchman-type issues in
an online scenario: We demonstrate that even for orthoconvex polygons, a
competitive strategy can be achieved only for limited aspect ratio A (the ratio
of the maximum and minimum edge length of the polygon), i.e., for a given lower
bound on the size of an edge; we give a matching upper bound by providing an
O(log A)-competitive strategy for simple rectilinear polygons, using the
assumption that each edge of the polygon has to be fully visible from some scan
point.Comment: 28 pages, 17 figures, 2 photographs, 3 tables, Latex. Updated some
details (title, figures and text) for final journal revision, including
explicit assumption of full edge visibilit
A simple proof for visibility paths in simple polygons
The purpose of this note is to give a simple proof for a necessary and
sufficient condition for visibility paths in simple polygons. A visibility path
is a curve such that every point inside a simple polygon is visible from at
least one point on the path. This result is essential for finding the shortest
watchman route inside a simple polygon specially when the route is restricted
to curved paths
Watchman routes in the presence of convex obstacles
This thesis deals with the problem of computing shortest watchman routes in the presence of polygonal obstacles. Important recent results on watchman route problems are surveyed. An {dollar}O(n\sp3){dollar} algorithm for computing a shortest watchman route in the presence of a pair of convex obstacles is presented. Important open problems related to watchman route problems are discussed
Algorithms for Monotone Paths with Visibility Properties
Constructing collision-free paths in Euclidean space is a well-known problem in computational geometry having applications in many fields that include robotics, VLSI, and covert surveillance. In this thesis, we investigate the development of efficient algorithms for constructing a collision-free path that satisfies directional and visibility constraints. We present algorithms for constructing monotone collision-free paths that tend to maximize the visibility of the boundary of obstacles. We also present implementation of some monotone path planning algorithms in Java Programming Language
Online Exploration of Polygons with Holes
We study online strategies for autonomous mobile robots with vision to
explore unknown polygons with at most h holes. Our main contribution is an
(h+c_0)!-competitive strategy for such polygons under the assumption that each
hole is marked with a special color, where c_0 is a universal constant. The
strategy is based on a new hybrid approach. Furthermore, we give a new lower
bound construction for small h.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures, submitted to WAOA 201
Minimizing Turns in Watchman Robot Navigation: Strategies and Solutions
The Orthogonal Watchman Route Problem (OWRP) entails the search for the
shortest path, known as the watchman route, that a robot must follow within a
polygonal environment. The primary objective is to ensure that every point in
the environment remains visible from at least one point on the route, allowing
the robot to survey the entire area in a single, continuous sweep. This
research places particular emphasis on reducing the number of turns in the
route, as it is crucial for optimizing navigation in watchman routes within the
field of robotics. The cost associated with changing direction is of
significant importance, especially for specific types of robots. This paper
introduces an efficient linear-time algorithm for solving the OWRP under the
assumption that the environment is monotone. The findings of this study
contribute to the progress of robotic systems by enabling the design of more
streamlined patrol robots. These robots are capable of efficiently navigating
complex environments while minimizing the number of turns. This advancement
enhances their coverage and surveillance capabilities, making them highly
effective in various real-world applications.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure
Approximation Algorithms for the Two-Watchman Route in a Simple Polygon
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
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