Search-and-Fetch with 2 Robots on a Disk: Wireless and Face-to-Face Communication Models

We initiate the study of a new problem on searching and fetching in a distributed environment concerning treasure-evacuation from a unit disk. A treasure and an exit are located at unknown positions on the perimeter of a disk and at known arc distance. A team of two robots start from the center of t...

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Main Authors: Konstantinos Georgiou, George Karakostas, Evangelos Kranakis
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Discrete Mathematics & Theoretical Computer Science 2019-06-01
Series:Discrete Mathematics & Theoretical Computer Science
Subjects:
Online Access:https://dmtcs.episciences.org/4884/pdf
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author Konstantinos Georgiou
George Karakostas
Evangelos Kranakis
author_facet Konstantinos Georgiou
George Karakostas
Evangelos Kranakis
author_sort Konstantinos Georgiou
collection DOAJ
description We initiate the study of a new problem on searching and fetching in a distributed environment concerning treasure-evacuation from a unit disk. A treasure and an exit are located at unknown positions on the perimeter of a disk and at known arc distance. A team of two robots start from the center of the disk, and their goal is to fetch the treasure to the exit. At any time the robots can move anywhere they choose on the disk, independently of each other, with the same speed. A robot detects an interesting point (treasure or exit) only if it passes over the exact location of that point. We are interested in designing distributed algorithms that minimize the worst-case treasure-evacuation time, i.e. the time it takes for the treasure to be discovered and brought (fetched) to the exit by any of the robots. The communication protocol between the robots is either wireless, where information is shared at any time, or face-to-face (i.e. non-wireless), where information can be shared only if the robots meet. For both models we obtain upper bounds for fetching the treasure to the exit. Our main technical contribution pertains to the face-to-face model. More specifically, we demonstrate how robots can exchange information without meeting, effectively achieving a highly efficient treasure-evacuation protocol which is minimally affected by the lack of distant communication. Finally, we complement our positive results above by providing a lower bound in the face-to-face model.
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spelling doaj.art-f4b938e31dc743fb9fcea2b4a605592e2024-03-07T15:39:17ZengDiscrete Mathematics & Theoretical Computer ScienceDiscrete Mathematics & Theoretical Computer Science1365-80502019-06-01Vol. 21 no. 3Distributed Computing and...10.23638/DMTCS-21-3-204884Search-and-Fetch with 2 Robots on a Disk: Wireless and Face-to-Face Communication ModelsKonstantinos GeorgiouGeorge KarakostasEvangelos KranakisWe initiate the study of a new problem on searching and fetching in a distributed environment concerning treasure-evacuation from a unit disk. A treasure and an exit are located at unknown positions on the perimeter of a disk and at known arc distance. A team of two robots start from the center of the disk, and their goal is to fetch the treasure to the exit. At any time the robots can move anywhere they choose on the disk, independently of each other, with the same speed. A robot detects an interesting point (treasure or exit) only if it passes over the exact location of that point. We are interested in designing distributed algorithms that minimize the worst-case treasure-evacuation time, i.e. the time it takes for the treasure to be discovered and brought (fetched) to the exit by any of the robots. The communication protocol between the robots is either wireless, where information is shared at any time, or face-to-face (i.e. non-wireless), where information can be shared only if the robots meet. For both models we obtain upper bounds for fetching the treasure to the exit. Our main technical contribution pertains to the face-to-face model. More specifically, we demonstrate how robots can exchange information without meeting, effectively achieving a highly efficient treasure-evacuation protocol which is minimally affected by the lack of distant communication. Finally, we complement our positive results above by providing a lower bound in the face-to-face model.https://dmtcs.episciences.org/4884/pdfcomputer science - data structures and algorithms
spellingShingle Konstantinos Georgiou
George Karakostas
Evangelos Kranakis
Search-and-Fetch with 2 Robots on a Disk: Wireless and Face-to-Face Communication Models
Discrete Mathematics & Theoretical Computer Science
computer science - data structures and algorithms
title Search-and-Fetch with 2 Robots on a Disk: Wireless and Face-to-Face Communication Models
title_full Search-and-Fetch with 2 Robots on a Disk: Wireless and Face-to-Face Communication Models
title_fullStr Search-and-Fetch with 2 Robots on a Disk: Wireless and Face-to-Face Communication Models
title_full_unstemmed Search-and-Fetch with 2 Robots on a Disk: Wireless and Face-to-Face Communication Models
title_short Search-and-Fetch with 2 Robots on a Disk: Wireless and Face-to-Face Communication Models
title_sort search and fetch with 2 robots on a disk wireless and face to face communication models
topic computer science - data structures and algorithms
url https://dmtcs.episciences.org/4884/pdf
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