Distributed Algorithms by Forgetful Mobile Robots

Abstract

Consider a group of autonomous robots which operate in the plane without ever explicitly communicating to each other. Such robots are identical, extremely simple and individually quite weak, but are collectively capable of performing possibly complex tasks. The robots operate in look-compute-move cycles. During a cycle, a robot obtains a snapshot of the environment (look); executes the protocol, the same for all robots, using the snapshot as an input (compute); and moves towards the computed destination, if any (move). After each cycle, a robot may be inactive for some time. Once a cycle is completed, however, a robot forgets everything it knew, and it starts the next cycle from scratch, without any information about the past. Such forgetful behaviour is called obliviousness.