20 Search Results for "Rudoy, Mikhail"

Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.FUN.2026.11
An Almost-Optimal Upper Bound on the Push Number of the Torus Puzzle

Authors: Matteo Caporrella and Stefano Leucci

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 366, 13th International Conference on Fun with Algorithms (FUN 2026)

Abstract
We study the Torus Puzzle, a solitaire game in which the elements of an input m × n matrix need to be rearranged into a target configuration via a sequence of unit rotations (i.e., circular shifts) of rows and/or columns. Amano et al. proposed a more permissive variant of the above puzzle, where each row and column rotation can shift the involved elements by any amount of positions. The number of rotations needed to solve the original and the permissive variants of the puzzle are respectively known as the push number and the drag number, where the latter is always smaller than or equal to the former and admits an existential lower bound of Ω(mn). While this lower bound is matched by an O(mn) upper bound, the push number is not so well understood. Indeed, to the best of our knowledge, only an O(mn ⋅ max{m, n}) upper bound is currently known. In this paper, we provide an algorithm that solves the Torus Puzzle using O(mn ⋅ log max {m, n}) unit rotations in a model that is more restricted than that of the original puzzle. This implies a corresponding upper bound on the push number and reduces the gap between the known upper and lower bounds from Θ(max{m,n}) to Θ(log max{m, n}).
Cite as

Matteo Caporrella and Stefano Leucci. An Almost-Optimal Upper Bound on the Push Number of the Torus Puzzle. In 13th International Conference on Fun with Algorithms (FUN 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 366, pp. 11:1-11:21, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{caporrella_et_al:LIPIcs.FUN.2026.11,
  author =	{Caporrella, Matteo and Leucci, Stefano},
  title =	{{An Almost-Optimal Upper Bound on the Push Number of the Torus Puzzle}},
  booktitle =	{13th International Conference on Fun with Algorithms (FUN 2026)},
  pages =	{11:1--11:21},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-417-8},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{366},
  editor =	{Iacono, John},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.FUN.2026.11},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-257307},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FUN.2026.11},
  annote =	{Keywords: Torus puzzle, Push number, Permutation puzzles}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.FUN.2026.26
Hexasort - the Complexity of Stacking Colors on Graphs

Authors: Linus Klocker and Simon Dominik Fink

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 366, 13th International Conference on Fun with Algorithms (FUN 2026)

Abstract
Many popular puzzle and matching games have been analyzed through the lens of computational complexity. Prominent examples include Sudoku [Takayuki Yato and Takahiro Seta, 2003], Candy Crush [Luciano Gualà et al., 2014], and Flood-It [Fellows et al., 2018]. A common theme among these widely played games is that their generalized decision versions are NP-hard, which is often thought of as a source of their inherent difficulty and addictive appeal to human players. In this paper, we study a popular single-player stacking game commonly known as Hexasort. The game can be modelled as placing colored stacks onto the vertices of a graph, where adjacent stacks of the same color merge and vanish according to deterministic rules. We prove that Hexasort is NP-hard, even when restricted to single-color stacks and progressively more constrained classes of graphs, culminating in strong NP-hardness on trees of either bounded height or degree. Towards fixed-parameter tractable algorithms, we identify settings in which the problem becomes polynomial-time solvable and present dynamic programming algorithms.
Cite as

Linus Klocker and Simon Dominik Fink. Hexasort - the Complexity of Stacking Colors on Graphs. In 13th International Conference on Fun with Algorithms (FUN 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 366, pp. 26:1-26:12, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{klocker_et_al:LIPIcs.FUN.2026.26,
  author =	{Klocker, Linus and Fink, Simon Dominik},
  title =	{{Hexasort - the Complexity of Stacking Colors on Graphs}},
  booktitle =	{13th International Conference on Fun with Algorithms (FUN 2026)},
  pages =	{26:1--26:12},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-417-8},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{366},
  editor =	{Iacono, John},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.FUN.2026.26},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-257457},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FUN.2026.26},
  annote =	{Keywords: Hexasort, offline color stacking on graphs, NP-complete, polynomial-time solvable, dynamic programming}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.FUN.2026.31
A Demigod’s Number for the Rubik’s Cube

Authors: Arturo Merino and Bernardo Subercaseaux

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 366, 13th International Conference on Fun with Algorithms (FUN 2026)

Abstract
It is by now well-known that any state of the 3× 3 × 3 Rubik’s Cube can be solved in at most 20 moves, a result often referred to as "God’s Number". However, this result took Rokicki et al. around 35 CPU years to prove and is therefore very challenging to reproduce. We provide a novel approach to obtain a worse bound of 36 moves with high confidence, but that offers two main advantages: (i) it is easy to understand, reproduce, and verify, and (ii) our main idea generalizes to bounding the diameter of other vertex-transitive graphs by at most twice its true value, hence the name "demigod number". Our approach is based on the fact that, for vertex-transitive graphs, the diameter at most twice the average distance (of which we give a much simpler proof than in the literature). Then, by sampling uniformly random states and using a modern solver to obtain upper bounds on their distance, a standard concentration bound allows us to confidently state that the average distance is around 18.32 ± 0.18, from where the diameter is at most 36.
Cite as

Arturo Merino and Bernardo Subercaseaux. A Demigod’s Number for the Rubik’s Cube. In 13th International Conference on Fun with Algorithms (FUN 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 366, pp. 31:1-31:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{merino_et_al:LIPIcs.FUN.2026.31,
  author =	{Merino, Arturo and Subercaseaux, Bernardo},
  title =	{{A Demigod’s Number for the Rubik’s Cube}},
  booktitle =	{13th International Conference on Fun with Algorithms (FUN 2026)},
  pages =	{31:1--31:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-417-8},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{366},
  editor =	{Iacono, John},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.FUN.2026.31},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-257505},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FUN.2026.31},
  annote =	{Keywords: Diameter, Rubik’s Cube, Experimental mathematics}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.FUN.2026.40
An ASP-Completeness Framework for Dynasty Puzzles

Authors: Kosuke Susukita

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 366, 13th International Conference on Fun with Algorithms (FUN 2026)

Abstract
A certain class of pencil-and-paper puzzles shares common rules: given a grid, certain cells must be shaded such that i) no two shaded cells are orthogonally adjacent, and ii) all unshaded cells are orthogonally connected. Such puzzles are sometimes referred to as "dynasty puzzles" within parts of the online puzzle community. We introduce a framework for proving the ASP-completeness (i.e., NP-complete under parsimonious reductions) of various dynasty puzzles. We apply this framework to seven specific dynasty puzzles - Akichiwake, Aquapelago, Ayeheya, Guide Arrow, Heyawake, Hitori, and Kurodoko. As a consequence, for given k solutions of any of these puzzles, deciding whether a distinct solution exists is NP-complete, and counting the number of solutions is #P-complete. Our results strengthen the known result of ASP-completeness for Heyawake and establish the ASP-completeness of the other six puzzles. The main idea is to reconstruct the reduction from the Tree-Residue Vertex-Breaking Problem (TRVB) to the Hamiltonian Cycle Problem introduced by MIT Hardness Group (2024). In our framework, the connectivity of the unshaded cells ensures the connectivity of the shaded cells, allowing the shaded cells to simulate TRVB, which is also an alternative representation of the Hamiltonian cycles under certain conditions.
Cite as

Kosuke Susukita. An ASP-Completeness Framework for Dynasty Puzzles. In 13th International Conference on Fun with Algorithms (FUN 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 366, pp. 40:1-40:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{susukita:LIPIcs.FUN.2026.40,
  author =	{Susukita, Kosuke},
  title =	{{An ASP-Completeness Framework for Dynasty Puzzles}},
  booktitle =	{13th International Conference on Fun with Algorithms (FUN 2026)},
  pages =	{40:1--40:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-417-8},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{366},
  editor =	{Iacono, John},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.FUN.2026.40},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-257596},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FUN.2026.40},
  annote =	{Keywords: ASP-completeness, pencil-and-paper puzzles, dynasty puzzles, Hitori, Kurodoko, Hamiltonian cycle, Tree-Residue Vertex-Breaking}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.47
Dudeney’s Dissection Is Optimal

Authors: Erik D. Demaine, Tonan Kamata, and Ryuhei Uehara

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

Abstract
In 1907, Henry Ernest Dudeney posed a puzzle: "cut any equilateral triangle ... into as few pieces as possible that will fit together and form a perfect square" (without overlap, via translation and rotation). Four weeks later, Dudeney demonstrated a beautiful four-piece solution, which today remains perhaps the most famous example of dissection. In this paper (over a century later), we finally solve Dudeney’s puzzle, by proving that the equilateral triangle and square have no common dissection with three or fewer polygonal pieces. We reduce the problem to the analysis of discrete graph structures representing the correspondence between the edges and the vertices of the pieces forming each polygon.
Cite as

Erik D. Demaine, Tonan Kamata, and Ryuhei Uehara. Dudeney’s Dissection Is Optimal. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 47:1-47:22, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{demaine_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.47,
  author =	{Demaine, Erik D. and Kamata, Tonan and Uehara, Ryuhei},
  title =	{{Dudeney’s Dissection Is Optimal}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{47:1--47:22},
  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.2026.47},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253345},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.47},
  annote =	{Keywords: Geometric Dissection, Dudeney Dissection, Dissection with Fewest Pieces}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.57
Improved Hardness-Of-Approximation for Token-Swapping

Authors: Sam Hiken and Nicole Wein

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 351, 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)

Abstract
We study the token swapping problem, in which we are given a graph with an initial assignment of one distinct token to each vertex, and a final desired assignment (again with one token per vertex). The goal is to find the minimum length sequence of swaps of adjacent tokens required to get from the initial to the final assignment. The token swapping problem is known to be NP-complete. It is also known to have a polynomial-time 4-approximation algorithm. From the hardness-of-approximation side, it is known to be NP-hard to approximate with a ratio better than 1001/1000. Our main result is an improvement of the approximation ratio of the lower bound: We show that it is NP-hard to approximate with ratio better than 14/13. We then turn our attention to the 0/1-weighted version, in which every token has a weight of either 0 or 1, and the cost of a swap is the sum of the weights of the two participating tokens. Unlike standard token swapping, no constant-factor approximation is known for this version, and we provide an explanation. We prove that 0/1-weighted token swapping is NP-hard to approximate with ratio better than (1-ε) ln(n) for any constant ε > 0. Lastly, we prove two barrier results for the standard (unweighted) token swapping problem. We show that one cannot beat the current best known approximation ratio of 4 using a large class of algorithms which includes all known algorithms, nor can one beat it using a common analysis framework.
Cite as

Sam Hiken and Nicole Wein. Improved Hardness-Of-Approximation for Token-Swapping. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 57:1-57:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{hiken_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.57,
  author =	{Hiken, Sam and Wein, Nicole},
  title =	{{Improved Hardness-Of-Approximation for Token-Swapping}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{57:1--57:16},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-395-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{351},
  editor =	{Benoit, Anne and Kaplan, Haim and Wild, Sebastian and Herman, Grzegorz},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.57},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-245251},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.57},
  annote =	{Keywords: algorithms, token-swapping, hardness-of-approximation, lower-bounds}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.WADS.2025.11
Crossing and Independent Families Among Polygons

Authors: Anna Brötzner, Robert Ganian, Thekla Hamm, Fabian Klute, and Irene Parada

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 349, 19th International Symposium on Algorithms and Data Structures (WADS 2025)

Abstract
Given a set A of points in the plane, a family of line segments forming a matching in A is called crossing (or independent) if each pair of segments in the family intersects (or is non-intersecting, respectively). In past works, these notions have been generalized to polygons by identifying the points in A with the vertices of a given set of polygons and forbidding the line segments from intersecting or overlapping with polygon walls. In this work, we study the computational complexity of computing maximum crossing and independent families in this more general setting. As our first two results, we show that both problems are NP-hard already when the polygons are triangles. Motivated by this, we turn to parameterized algorithms. For our main algorithmic results, we consider the number of polygons on the input as the natural parameter and under this parameterization obtain a fixed-parameter algorithm for computing a largest crossing family among these polygons, and a separate XP-algorithm for computing a largest independent family that lies in one of the faces of the polygonal domain.
Cite as

Anna Brötzner, Robert Ganian, Thekla Hamm, Fabian Klute, and Irene Parada. Crossing and Independent Families Among Polygons. In 19th International Symposium on Algorithms and Data Structures (WADS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 349, pp. 11:1-11:15, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{brotzner_et_al:LIPIcs.WADS.2025.11,
  author =	{Br\"{o}tzner, Anna and Ganian, Robert and Hamm, Thekla and Klute, Fabian and Parada, Irene},
  title =	{{Crossing and Independent Families Among Polygons}},
  booktitle =	{19th International Symposium on Algorithms and Data Structures (WADS 2025)},
  pages =	{11:1--11:15},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-398-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{349},
  editor =	{Morin, Pat and Oh, Eunjin},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.WADS.2025.11},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-242424},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.WADS.2025.11},
  annote =	{Keywords: crossing families, crossing-free matchings, segment intersection graphs, computational geometry, parameterized algorithms}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.WADS.2025.20
Routing Few Robots in a Crowded Network

Authors: Argyrios Deligkas, Eduard Eiben, Robert Ganian, Iyad Kanj, Dominik Leko, and M. S. Ramanujan

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 349, 19th International Symposium on Algorithms and Data Structures (WADS 2025)

Abstract
In Graph Coordinated Motion Planning, we are given a graph G some of whose vertices are occupied by robots, and we are asked to route k marked robots to their destinations while avoiding collisions and without exceeding a given budget 𝓁 on the number of robot moves. We continue the recent investigation of the problem [ICALP 2024], focusing on the parameter k that captures the task of routing a small number of robots in a possibly crowded graph. We prove that the problem is W[1]-hard parameterized by 𝓁 even for k = 1, but fixed-parameter tractable parameterized by k plus the treedepth of G. We complement the latter algorithm with an NP-hardness reduction which shows that both parameters are necessary to achieve tractability.
Cite as

Argyrios Deligkas, Eduard Eiben, Robert Ganian, Iyad Kanj, Dominik Leko, and M. S. Ramanujan. Routing Few Robots in a Crowded Network. In 19th International Symposium on Algorithms and Data Structures (WADS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 349, pp. 20:1-20:15, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{deligkas_et_al:LIPIcs.WADS.2025.20,
  author =	{Deligkas, Argyrios and Eiben, Eduard and Ganian, Robert and Kanj, Iyad and Leko, Dominik and Ramanujan, M. S.},
  title =	{{Routing Few Robots in a Crowded Network}},
  booktitle =	{19th International Symposium on Algorithms and Data Structures (WADS 2025)},
  pages =	{20:1--20:15},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-398-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{349},
  editor =	{Morin, Pat and Oh, Eunjin},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.WADS.2025.20},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-242516},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.WADS.2025.20},
  annote =	{Keywords: graph coordinated motion planning, parameterized complexity, treedepth}
}
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)

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@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.SoCG.2025.44
A Minor-Testing Approach for Coordinated Motion Planning with Sliding Robots

Authors: Eduard Eiben, Robert Ganian, Iyad Kanj, and M. S. Ramanujan

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 332, 41st International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2025)

Abstract
We study a variant of the Coordinated Motion Planning problem on undirected graphs, referred to herein as the Coordinated Sliding-Motion Planning (CSMP) problem. In this variant, we are given an undirected graph G, k robots R₁,… ,R_k positioned on distinct vertices of G, p ≤ k distinct destination vertices for robots R₁,… ,R_p, and 𝓁 ∈ ℕ. The problem is to decide if there is a serial schedule of at most 𝓁 moves (i.e., of makespan 𝓁) such that at the end of the schedule each robot with a destination reaches it, where a robot’s move is a free path (unoccupied by any robots) from its current position to an unoccupied vertex. The problem is known to be NP-hard even on full grids. It has been studied in several contexts, including coin movement and reconfiguration problems, with respect to feasibility, complexity, and approximation. Geometric variants of the problem, in which congruent geometric-shape robots (e.g., unit disk/squares) slide or translate in the Euclidean plane, have also been studied extensively. We investigate the parameterized complexity of CSMP with respect to two parameters: the number k of robots and the makespan 𝓁. As our first result, we present a fixed-parameter algorithm for CSMP parameterized by k. For our second result, we present a fixed-parameter algorithm parameterized by 𝓁 for the special case of CSMP in which only a single robot has a destination and the graph is planar. A crucial new ingredient for both of our results is that the solution admits a succinct representation as a small labeled topological minor of the input graph.
Cite as

Eduard Eiben, Robert Ganian, Iyad Kanj, and M. S. Ramanujan. A Minor-Testing Approach for Coordinated Motion Planning with Sliding Robots. In 41st International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 332, pp. 44:1-44:15, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{eiben_et_al:LIPIcs.SoCG.2025.44,
  author =	{Eiben, Eduard and Ganian, Robert and Kanj, Iyad and Ramanujan, M. S.},
  title =	{{A Minor-Testing Approach for Coordinated Motion Planning with Sliding Robots}},
  booktitle =	{41st International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2025)},
  pages =	{44:1--44:15},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-370-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{332},
  editor =	{Aichholzer, Oswin and Wang, Haitao},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2025.44},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-231966},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2025.44},
  annote =	{Keywords: coordinated motion planning on graphs, parameterized complexity, topological minor testing, planar graphs}
}
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)

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@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.ISAAC.2024.12
Partitioning Problems with Splittings and Interval Targets

Authors: Samuel Bismuth, Vladislav Makarov, Erel Segal-Halevi, and Dana Shapira

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 322, 35th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2024)

Abstract
The n-way number partitioning problem is a classic problem in combinatorial optimization, with applications to diverse settings such as fair allocation and machine scheduling. All these problems are NP-hard, but various approximation algorithms are known. We consider three closely related kinds of approximations. The first two variants optimize the partition such that: in the first variant some fixed number s of items can be split between two or more bins and in the second variant we allow at most a fixed number t of splittings. The third variant is a decision problem: the largest bin sum must be within a pre-specified interval, parameterized by a fixed rational number u times the largest item size. When the number of bins n is unbounded, we show that every variant is strongly NP-complete. When the number of bins n is fixed, the running time depends on the fixed parameters s,t,u. For each variant, we give a complete picture of its running time. For n = 2, the running time is easy to identify. Our main results consider any fixed integer n ≥ 3. Using a two-way polynomial-time reduction between the first and the third variant, we show that n-way number-partitioning with s split items can be solved in polynomial time if s ≥ n-2, and it is NP-complete otherwise. Also, n-way number-partitioning with t splittings can be solved in polynomial time if t ≥ n-1, and it is NP-complete otherwise. Finally, we show that the third variant can be solved in polynomial time if u ≥ (n-2)/n, and it is NP-complete otherwise. Our positive results for the optimization problems consider both min-max and max-min versions. Using the same reduction, we provide a fully polynomial-time approximation scheme for the case where the number of split items is lower than n-2.
Cite as

Samuel Bismuth, Vladislav Makarov, Erel Segal-Halevi, and Dana Shapira. Partitioning Problems with Splittings and Interval Targets. In 35th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2024). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 322, pp. 12:1-12:15, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024)

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@InProceedings{bismuth_et_al:LIPIcs.ISAAC.2024.12,
  author =	{Bismuth, Samuel and Makarov, Vladislav and Segal-Halevi, Erel and Shapira, Dana},
  title =	{{Partitioning Problems with Splittings and Interval Targets}},
  booktitle =	{35th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2024)},
  pages =	{12:1--12:15},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-354-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2024},
  volume =	{322},
  editor =	{Mestre, Juli\'{a}n and Wirth, Anthony},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2024.12},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-221394},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2024.12},
  annote =	{Keywords: Number Partitioning, Fair Division, Identical Machine Scheduling}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2022.3
Hardness of Token Swapping on Trees

Authors: Oswin Aichholzer, Erik D. Demaine, Matias Korman, Anna Lubiw, Jayson Lynch, Zuzana Masárová, Mikhail Rudoy, Virginia Vassilevska Williams, and Nicole Wein

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 244, 30th Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2022)

Abstract
Given a graph where every vertex has exactly one labeled token, how can we most quickly execute a given permutation on the tokens? In (sequential) token swapping, the goal is to use the shortest possible sequence of swaps, each of which exchanges the tokens at the two endpoints of an edge of the graph. In parallel token swapping, the goal is to use the fewest rounds, each of which consists of one or more swaps on the edges of a matching. We prove that both of these problems remain NP-hard when the graph is restricted to be a tree. These token swapping problems have been studied by disparate groups of researchers in discrete mathematics, theoretical computer science, robot motion planning, game theory, and engineering. Previous work establishes NP-completeness on general graphs (for both problems), constant-factor approximation algorithms, and some poly-time exact algorithms for simple graph classes such as cliques, stars, paths, and cycles. Sequential and parallel token swapping on trees were first studied over thirty years ago (as "sorting with a transposition tree") and over twenty-five years ago (as "routing permutations via matchings"), yet their complexities were previously unknown. We also show limitations on approximation of sequential token swapping on trees: we identify a broad class of algorithms that encompass all three known polynomial-time algorithms that achieve the best known approximation factor (which is 2) and show that no such algorithm can achieve an approximation factor less than 2.
Cite as

Oswin Aichholzer, Erik D. Demaine, Matias Korman, Anna Lubiw, Jayson Lynch, Zuzana Masárová, Mikhail Rudoy, Virginia Vassilevska Williams, and Nicole Wein. Hardness of Token Swapping on Trees. In 30th Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2022). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 244, pp. 3:1-3:15, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2022)

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@InProceedings{aichholzer_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2022.3,
  author =	{Aichholzer, Oswin and Demaine, Erik D. and Korman, Matias and Lubiw, Anna and Lynch, Jayson and Mas\'{a}rov\'{a}, Zuzana and Rudoy, Mikhail and Vassilevska Williams, Virginia and Wein, Nicole},
  title =	{{Hardness of Token Swapping on Trees}},
  booktitle =	{30th Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2022)},
  pages =	{3:1--3:15},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-247-1},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2022},
  volume =	{244},
  editor =	{Chechik, Shiri and Navarro, Gonzalo and Rotenberg, Eva and Herman, Grzegorz},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2022.3},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-169413},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2022.3},
  annote =	{Keywords: Sorting, Token swapping, Trees, NP-hard, Approximation}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.FUN.2021.7
1 X 1 Rush Hour with Fixed Blocks Is PSPACE-Complete

Authors: Josh Brunner, Lily Chung, Erik D. Demaine, Dylan Hendrickson, Adam Hesterberg, Adam Suhl, and Avi Zeff

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 157, 10th International Conference on Fun with Algorithms (FUN 2021) (2020)

Abstract
Consider n²-1 unit-square blocks in an n × n square board, where each block is labeled as movable horizontally (only), movable vertically (only), or immovable - a variation of Rush Hour with only 1 × 1 cars and fixed blocks. We prove that it is PSPACE-complete to decide whether a given block can reach the left edge of the board, by reduction from Nondeterministic Constraint Logic via 2-color oriented Subway Shuffle. By contrast, polynomial-time algorithms are known for deciding whether a given block can be moved by one space, or when each block either is immovable or can move both horizontally and vertically. Our result answers a 15-year-old open problem by Tromp and Cilibrasi, and strengthens previous PSPACE-completeness results for Rush Hour with vertical 1 × 2 and horizontal 2 × 1 movable blocks and 4-color Subway Shuffle.
Cite as

Josh Brunner, Lily Chung, Erik D. Demaine, Dylan Hendrickson, Adam Hesterberg, Adam Suhl, and Avi Zeff. 1 X 1 Rush Hour with Fixed Blocks Is PSPACE-Complete. In 10th International Conference on Fun with Algorithms (FUN 2021). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 157, pp. 7:1-7:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2020)

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@InProceedings{brunner_et_al:LIPIcs.FUN.2021.7,
  author =	{Brunner, Josh and Chung, Lily and Demaine, Erik D. and Hendrickson, Dylan and Hesterberg, Adam and Suhl, Adam and Zeff, Avi},
  title =	{{1 X 1 Rush Hour with Fixed Blocks Is PSPACE-Complete}},
  booktitle =	{10th International Conference on Fun with Algorithms (FUN 2021)},
  pages =	{7:1--7:14},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-145-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2020},
  volume =	{157},
  editor =	{Farach-Colton, Martin and Prencipe, Giuseppe and Uehara, Ryuhei},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.FUN.2021.7},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-127681},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FUN.2021.7},
  annote =	{Keywords: puzzles, sliding blocks, PSPACE-hardness}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2019.9
Circumscribing Polygons and Polygonizations for Disjoint Line Segments

Authors: Hugo A. Akitaya, Matias Korman, Mikhail Rudoy, Diane L. Souvaine, and Csaba D. Tóth

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 129, 35th International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2019)

Abstract
Given a planar straight-line graph G=(V,E) in R^2, a circumscribing polygon of G is a simple polygon P whose vertex set is V, and every edge in E is either an edge or an internal diagonal of P. A circumscribing polygon is a polygonization for G if every edge in E is an edge of P. We prove that every arrangement of n disjoint line segments in the plane has a subset of size Omega(sqrt{n}) that admits a circumscribing polygon, which is the first improvement on this bound in 20 years. We explore relations between circumscribing polygons and other problems in combinatorial geometry, and generalizations to R^3. We show that it is NP-complete to decide whether a given graph G admits a circumscribing polygon, even if G is 2-regular. Settling a 30-year old conjecture by Rappaport, we also show that it is NP-complete to determine whether a geometric matching admits a polygonization.
Cite as

Hugo A. Akitaya, Matias Korman, Mikhail Rudoy, Diane L. Souvaine, and Csaba D. Tóth. Circumscribing Polygons and Polygonizations for Disjoint Line Segments. In 35th International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2019). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 129, pp. 9:1-9:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2019)

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@InProceedings{akitaya_et_al:LIPIcs.SoCG.2019.9,
  author =	{Akitaya, Hugo A. and Korman, Matias and Rudoy, Mikhail and Souvaine, Diane L. and T\'{o}th, Csaba D.},
  title =	{{Circumscribing Polygons and Polygonizations for Disjoint Line Segments}},
  booktitle =	{35th International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2019)},
  pages =	{9:1--9:17},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-104-7},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2019},
  volume =	{129},
  editor =	{Barequet, Gill and Wang, Yusu},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2019.9},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-104136},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2019.9},
  annote =	{Keywords: circumscribing polygon, Hamiltonicity, extremal combinatorics}
}
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