7 Search Results for "Cantu, Angel A."

Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.44
Tilt Automata: Gathering Particles with Uniform External Control

Authors: Sándor P. Fekete, Jonas Friemel, Peter Kramer, Jan-Marc Reinhardt, Christian Rieck, and Christian Scheffer

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 367, 42nd International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2026)

Abstract
Motivated by targeted drug delivery, we investigate the gathering of particles in the full tilt model of externally controlled motion planning: A set of particles is located at the tiles of a polyomino with all particles reacting uniformly to an external force by moving as far as possible in one of the four axis-parallel directions until they hit the boundary. The goal is to choose a sequence of directions that moves all particles to a common position. Our results include a polynomial-time algorithm for gathering in a completely filled polyomino as well as hardness reductions for approximating shortest gathering sequences and for determining whether the particles in a partially filled polyomino can be gathered. We pay special attention to the impact of restricted geometry, particularly polyominoes without holes. As a corollary, we make progress on an open question from [Balanza-Martinez et al., SODA 2020] by showing that deciding whether a given position can be occupied remains NP-hard in polyominoes without holes. Our results build on a connection we establish between tilt models and the theory of synchronizing automata.
Cite as

Sándor P. Fekete, Jonas Friemel, Peter Kramer, Jan-Marc Reinhardt, Christian Rieck, and Christian Scheffer. Tilt Automata: Gathering Particles with Uniform External Control. In 42nd International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 367, pp. 44:1-44:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{fekete_et_al:LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.44,
  author =	{Fekete, S\'{a}ndor P. and Friemel, Jonas and Kramer, Peter and Reinhardt, Jan-Marc and Rieck, Christian and Scheffer, Christian},
  title =	{{Tilt Automata: Gathering Particles with Uniform External Control}},
  booktitle =	{42nd International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2026)},
  pages =	{44:1--44:19},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-418-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{367},
  editor =	{Ahn, Hee-Kap and Hoffmann, Michael and Nayyeri, Amir},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.44},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-258508},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2026.44},
  annote =	{Keywords: Uniform control, gathering, full tilt, polyominoes, synchronizing automata}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.14
General Computation Using Slidable Tiles with Deterministic Global Forces

Authors: Alberto Avila-Jimenez, David Barreda, Sarah-Laurie Evans, Austin Luchsinger, Aiden Massie, Robert Schweller, Evan Tomai, and Tim Wylie

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 362, 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)

Abstract
We study the computational power of the Full-Tilt model of motion planning, where slidable polyominos are moved maximally around a board by way of a sequence of directional "tilts." We focus on the deterministic scenario in which the tilts constitute a repeated clockwise rotation. We show that general-purpose computation is possible within this framework by providing a direct and efficient simulation of space-bounded Turing machines in which one computational step of the machine is simulated per O(1) rotations. We further show that the initial tape of the machine can be programmed by an initial tilt-sequence preceding the rotations. This result immediately implies new PSPACE-completeness results for the well-studied problems of occupancy (deciding if a given board location can be occupied by a tile), vacancy (deciding if a location can be emptied), relocation (deciding if a tile can be moved from one location to another), and reconfiguration (can a given board configuration be reconfigured into a second given configuration) that hold even for deterministically repeating tilt cycles such as rotations. All of our PSPACE-completeness results hold even when there is only a single domino in the system beyond singleton tiles. Following, we show that these results work in the Single-Step tilt model for larger constant cycles. We then investigate computational efficiency by showing a modification to implement a two-tape Turing machine in the Full-Tilt model and Systolic Arrays in the Single-Step model. Finally, we show a cyclic implementation for tilt-efficient Threshold Circuits.
Cite as

Alberto Avila-Jimenez, David Barreda, Sarah-Laurie Evans, Austin Luchsinger, Aiden Massie, Robert Schweller, Evan Tomai, and Tim Wylie. General Computation Using Slidable Tiles with Deterministic Global Forces. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 14:1-14:25, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{avilajimenez_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.14,
  author =	{Avila-Jimenez, Alberto and Barreda, David and Evans, Sarah-Laurie and Luchsinger, Austin and Massie, Aiden and Schweller, Robert and Tomai, Evan and Wylie, Tim},
  title =	{{General Computation Using Slidable Tiles with Deterministic Global Forces}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{14:1--14:25},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-410-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{362},
  editor =	{Saraf, Shubhangi},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.14},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253019},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.14},
  annote =	{Keywords: motion planning, global control, external forces, deterministic computation, occupancy, vacancy}
}
Document
Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.74
Drainability and Fillability of Polyominoes in Diverse Models of Global Control

Authors: Sándor P. Fekete, Peter Kramer, Jan-Marc Reinhardt, Christian Rieck, and Christian Scheffer

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 334, 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)

Abstract
Tilt models offer intuitive and clean definitions of complex systems in which particles are influenced by global control commands. Despite a wide range of applications, there has been almost no theoretical investigation into the associated issues of filling and draining geometric environments. This is partly because a globally controlled system (i.e., passive matter) exhibits highly complex behavior that cannot be locally restricted. Thus, there is a strong need for theoretical studies that investigate these models both (1) in terms of relative power to each other, and (2) from a complexity theory perspective. In this work, we provide (1) general tools for comparing and contrasting different models of global control, and (2) both complexity and algorithmic results on filling and draining.
Cite as

Sándor P. Fekete, Peter Kramer, Jan-Marc Reinhardt, Christian Rieck, and Christian Scheffer. Drainability and Fillability of Polyominoes in Diverse Models of Global Control. In 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 334, pp. 74:1-74:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{fekete_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.74,
  author =	{Fekete, S\'{a}ndor P. and Kramer, Peter and Reinhardt, Jan-Marc and Rieck, Christian and Scheffer, Christian},
  title =	{{Drainability and Fillability of Polyominoes in Diverse Models of Global Control}},
  booktitle =	{52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)},
  pages =	{74:1--74:19},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-372-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{334},
  editor =	{Censor-Hillel, Keren and Grandoni, Fabrizio and Ouaknine, Jo\"{e}l and Puppis, Gabriele},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.74},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-234518},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.74},
  annote =	{Keywords: Global control, full Tilt, single Tilt, Fillability, Drainability, Polyominoes, Complexity}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SAND.2025.11
Hardness of Traversing Gadget Systems with Small Bandwidth

Authors: MIT Gadgets Group, Erik D. Demaine, Jenny Diomidova, Timothy Gomez, Markus Hecher, and Jayson Lynch

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 330, 4th Symposium on Algorithmic Foundations of Dynamic Networks (SAND 2025)

Abstract
The motion-planning-through-gadgets framework has enabled proofs of PSPACE-completeness for many motion-planning problems, ranging from swarm and modular robotics to DNA computing to video games. In this paper, we strengthen this framework to show that, for several useful gadgets and gadget families, motion planning remains PSPACE-complete even when gadgets are connected together into a graph of constant bandwidth (which implies constant pathwidth, treewidth, and cliquewidth). We then show how this result applies to several geometric/grid-based motion-planning problems, establishing PSPACE-completeness even when restricted to a rectangle/box where only one dimension is large (superconstant). On the positive side, we find one family of gadgets (DAG gadgets) for which motion planning is fixed-parameter tractable with respect to bandwidth.
Cite as

MIT Gadgets Group, Erik D. Demaine, Jenny Diomidova, Timothy Gomez, Markus Hecher, and Jayson Lynch. Hardness of Traversing Gadget Systems with Small Bandwidth. In 4th Symposium on Algorithmic Foundations of Dynamic Networks (SAND 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 330, pp. 11:1-11:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{mitgadgetsgroup_et_al:LIPIcs.SAND.2025.11,
  author =	{MIT Gadgets Group and Demaine, Erik D. and Diomidova, Jenny and Gomez, Timothy and Hecher, Markus and Lynch, Jayson},
  title =	{{Hardness of Traversing Gadget Systems with Small Bandwidth}},
  booktitle =	{4th Symposium on Algorithmic Foundations of Dynamic Networks (SAND 2025)},
  pages =	{11:1--11:16},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-368-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{330},
  editor =	{Meeks, Kitty and Scheideler, Christian},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SAND.2025.11},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-230648},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SAND.2025.11},
  annote =	{Keywords: Gadgets, Motion Planning, Parameterized Complexity, Hardness}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SAND.2025.14
Fractals in Seeded Tile Automata

Authors: Asher Haun, Ryan Knobel, Adrian Salinas, Ramiro Santos, Robert Schweller, and Tim Wylie

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 330, 4th Symposium on Algorithmic Foundations of Dynamic Networks (SAND 2025)

Abstract
This work fully characterizes fractal generation in the seeded Tile Automata model (seeded TA), a model similar to the abstract Tile Assembly model (aTAM) with the added ability for adjacent tiles to change states. Under these assumptions, we first show that all discrete self-similar fractals (DSSFs) with feasible generators are strictly buildable at scale 1 and temperature 1 in seeded TA. We then show that these results imply the existence of a single seeded TA system Γ that can strictly build any DSSF infinitely at scale 1 and temperature 1.
Cite as

Asher Haun, Ryan Knobel, Adrian Salinas, Ramiro Santos, Robert Schweller, and Tim Wylie. Fractals in Seeded Tile Automata. In 4th Symposium on Algorithmic Foundations of Dynamic Networks (SAND 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 330, pp. 14:1-14:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{haun_et_al:LIPIcs.SAND.2025.14,
  author =	{Haun, Asher and Knobel, Ryan and Salinas, Adrian and Santos, Ramiro and Schweller, Robert and Wylie, Tim},
  title =	{{Fractals in Seeded Tile Automata}},
  booktitle =	{4th Symposium on Algorithmic Foundations of Dynamic Networks (SAND 2025)},
  pages =	{14:1--14:17},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-368-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{330},
  editor =	{Meeks, Kitty and Scheideler, Christian},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SAND.2025.14},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-230677},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SAND.2025.14},
  annote =	{Keywords: self-assembly, tile automata, fractals}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2020.53
Signal Passing Self-Assembly Simulates Tile Automata

Authors: Angel A. Cantu, Austin Luchsinger, Robert Schweller, and Tim Wylie

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 181, 31st International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2020)

Abstract
The natural process of self-assembly has been studied through various abstract models due to the abundant applications that benefit from self-assembly. Many of these different models emerged in an effort to capture and understand the fundamental properties of different physical systems and the mechanisms by which assembly may occur. A newly proposed model, known as Tile Automata, offers an abstract toolkit to analyze and compare the algorithmic properties of different self-assembly systems. In this paper, we show that for every Tile Automata system, there exists a Signal-passing Tile Assembly system that can simulate it. Finally, we connect our result with a recent discovery showing that Tile Automata can simulate Amoebot programmable matter systems, thus showing that the Signal-passing Tile Assembly can simulate any Amoebot system.
Cite as

Angel A. Cantu, Austin Luchsinger, Robert Schweller, and Tim Wylie. Signal Passing Self-Assembly Simulates Tile Automata. In 31st International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2020). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 181, pp. 53:1-53:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2020)

Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{cantu_et_al:LIPIcs.ISAAC.2020.53,
  author =	{Cantu, Angel A. and Luchsinger, Austin and Schweller, Robert and Wylie, Tim},
  title =	{{Signal Passing Self-Assembly Simulates Tile Automata}},
  booktitle =	{31st International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2020)},
  pages =	{53:1--53:17},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-173-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2020},
  volume =	{181},
  editor =	{Cao, Yixin and Cheng, Siu-Wing and Li, Minming},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2020.53},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-133978},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2020.53},
  annote =	{Keywords: self-assembly, signal-passing tile assembly model, tile automata, cellular automata, simulation}
}
Document
Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2019.31
Covert Computation in Self-Assembled Circuits

Authors: Angel A. Cantu, Austin Luchsinger, Robert Schweller, and Tim Wylie

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 132, 46th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2019)

Abstract
Traditionally, computation within self-assembly models is hard to conceal because the self-assembly process generates a crystalline assembly whose computational history is inherently part of the structure itself. With no way to remove information from the computation, this computational model offers a unique problem: how can computational input and computation be hidden while still computing and reporting the final output? Designing such systems is inherently motivated by privacy concerns in biomedical computing and applications in cryptography. In this paper we propose the problem of performing "covert computation" within tile self-assembly that seeks to design self-assembly systems that "conceal" both the input and computational history of performed computations. We achieve these results within the growth-only restricted abstract tile assembly model (aTAM) with positive and negative interactions. We show that general-case covert computation is possible by implementing a set of basic covert logic gates capable of simulating any circuit (functionally complete). To further motivate the study of covert computation, we apply our new framework to resolve an outstanding complexity question; we use our covert circuitry to show that the unique assembly verification problem within the growth-only aTAM with negative interactions is coNP-complete.
Cite as

Angel A. Cantu, Austin Luchsinger, Robert Schweller, and Tim Wylie. Covert Computation in Self-Assembled Circuits. In 46th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2019). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 132, pp. 31:1-31:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2019)

Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{cantu_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2019.31,
  author =	{Cantu, Angel A. and Luchsinger, Austin and Schweller, Robert and Wylie, Tim},
  title =	{{Covert Computation in Self-Assembled Circuits}},
  booktitle =	{46th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2019)},
  pages =	{31:1--31:14},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-109-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2019},
  volume =	{132},
  editor =	{Baier, Christel and Chatzigiannakis, Ioannis and Flocchini, Paola and Leonardi, Stefano},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2019.31},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-106075},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2019.31},
  annote =	{Keywords: self-assembly, covert circuits}
}
  • Refine by Type
  • 7 Document/PDF
  • 5 Document/HTML

  • Refine by Publication Year
  • 2 2026
  • 3 2025
  • 1 2020
  • 1 2019

  • Refine by Author
  • 4 Schweller, Robert
  • 4 Wylie, Tim
  • 3 Luchsinger, Austin
  • 2 Cantu, Angel A.
  • 2 Fekete, Sándor P.
  • Show More...

  • Refine by Series/Journal
  • 7 LIPIcs

  • Refine by Classification
  • 2 Theory of computation → Computational geometry
  • 2 Theory of computation → Models of computation
  • 1 Applied computing → Computational biology
  • 1 Mathematics of computing → Graph algorithms
  • 1 Theory of computation
  • Show More...

  • Refine by Keyword
  • 3 self-assembly
  • 2 tile automata
  • 1 Complexity
  • 1 Drainability
  • 1 Fillability
  • Show More...

Any Issues?
X

Feedback on the Current Page

CAPTCHA

Thanks for your feedback!

Feedback submitted to Dagstuhl Publishing

Could not send message

Please try again later or send an E-mail
© 2023-2026 Schloss Dagstuhl – LZI GmbH Schloss Dagstuhl – LZI GmbH About DROPS Imprint Privacy Contact