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DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.18

An Optimal Algorithm for the Stacker Crane Problem on Fixed Topologies

Authors: Yike Chen, Ke Shi, and Chao Xu

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 359, 36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025)

Abstract

The Stacker Crane Problem (SCP) is a variant of the Traveling Salesman Problem. In SCP, pairs of pickup and delivery points are designated on a graph, and a crane must visit these points to move objects from each pickup location to its respective delivery point. The goal is to minimize the total distance traveled. SCP is known to be NP-hard, even on trees. The only positive results, in terms of polynomial-time solvability, apply to graphs that are topologically equivalent to a path or a cycle. We propose an algorithm that is optimal for each fixed topology, running in near-linear time. This is achieved by demonstrating that the problem is fixed-parameter tractable (FPT) when parameterized by both the cycle rank and the number of branch vertices.

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Yike Chen, Ke Shi, and Chao Xu. An Optimal Algorithm for the Stacker Crane Problem on Fixed Topologies. In 36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 359, pp. 18:1-18:12, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{chen_et_al:LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.18,
  author =	{Chen, Yike and Shi, Ke and Xu, Chao},
  title =	{{An Optimal Algorithm for the Stacker Crane Problem on Fixed Topologies}},
  booktitle =	{36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025)},
  pages =	{18:1--18:12},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-408-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{359},
  editor =	{Chen, Ho-Lin and Hon, Wing-Kai and Tsai, Meng-Tsung},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.18},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-249269},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.18},
  annote =	{Keywords: Stacker Crane Problem, Fixed-Parameter Tractable, Min-Cost Circulation}
}

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An Optimal Algorithm for the Stacker Crane Problem on Fixed Topologies

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