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Pattern Formation, Dancing, and Sequential Schedulers (Invited Talk)

Author Paola Flocchini

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LIPIcs.SAND.2026.1.pdf
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  • 5 pages

Document Identifiers

Subject Classification

ACM Subject Classification
  • Theory of computation → Distributed algorithms
Keywords
  • Autonomous mobile robots
  • Look-Compute-Move
  • Sequential schedulers
  • Pattern formation
  • Sequence of patterns
  • Computational power

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Abstract

In theoretical computer science, the study of swarms of autonomous mobile robots has concentrated on computational entities operating in Look–Compute–Move cycles in Euclidean spaces. The computational issues arising in such settings are viewed as due to the interplay between the robots' capabilities and the adversarial power of a scheduler controlling the timing of their activations and the duration of their operations. The focus of research has been on determining the minimal capabilities that allow the robots to solve a given problem under a given adversarial scheduler. Of particular interest is the class of Pattern Formation problems, and its more complex extension - called Dancing - of forming sequences of patterns. We discuss the computational power of the robots operating under Sequential schedulers in relation to Pattern Formation and Dancing, showing that this power is stronger than the obvious capacity of symmetry breaking, and thus of leader election. Recent results are reported.

Cite As Get BibTex

Paola Flocchini. Pattern Formation, Dancing, and Sequential Schedulers (Invited Talk). In 5th Symposium on Algorithmic Foundations of Dynamic Networks (SAND 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 373, pp. 1:1-1:5, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026) https://doi.org/10.4230/LIPIcs.SAND.2026.1

Author Details

Paola Flocchini
  • School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Ottawa, Canada

References

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