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DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.FUN.2026.10

77 Shades of Grey

Authors: Quentin Bramas, Stéphane Devismes, Anaïs Durand, Pascal Lafourcade, and Anissa Lamani

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

Abstract

Bruce Wayne contacted us to help him develop a new surveillance technology for dark environments such as caves, using a swarm of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), called Batdroids. A Batdroid has no chirality, limited visibility, and a perfect clock to synchronize with the others. A Batdroid can produce 77 shades of grey in dark mode and four colors in light mode. In this paper, we propose two algorithms using three Batdroids to perpetually explore a finite 3D grid modeling a cave. The first algorithm operates in darkness, uses 77 shades of grey, and requires visibility range one. The second operates in light, uses four colors and visibility range two. We also prove that three is the optimal number of Batdroids required to solve Bruce Wayne’s challenge.

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Quentin Bramas, Stéphane Devismes, Anaïs Durand, Pascal Lafourcade, and Anissa Lamani. 77 Shades of Grey. In 13th International Conference on Fun with Algorithms (FUN 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 366, pp. 10:1-10:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{bramas_et_al:LIPIcs.FUN.2026.10,
  author =	{Bramas, Quentin and Devismes, St\'{e}phane and Durand, Ana\"{i}s and Lafourcade, Pascal and Lamani, Anissa},
  title =	{{77 Shades of Grey}},
  booktitle =	{13th International Conference on Fun with Algorithms (FUN 2026)},
  pages =	{10:1--10:19},
  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.2026.10},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-257294},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FUN.2026.10},
  annote =	{Keywords: Mobile robots, grid exploration, perpetual exploration}
}

Document

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.FUN.2022.7

Beedroids: How Luminous Autonomous Swarms of UAVs Can Save the World?

Authors: Quentin Bramas, Stéphane Devismes, Anaïs Durand, Pascal Lafourcade, and Anissa Lamani

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 226, 11th International Conference on Fun with Algorithms (FUN 2022)

Abstract

Bee extinction is a great risk for humanity. To circumvent this ineluctable disaster, we propose to develop beedroids, i.e., small UAVs mimicking the behaviors of real bees. Those beedroids are endowed with very weak capabilities (short-range visibility sensors, no GPS, light with a few colors, ...). Like real bees, they have to self-organize together into swarms. Beedroid swarms will be deployed in cuboid-shaped greenhouse. Each beedroid swarm will have to indefinitely search for flowers to pollinate in its greenhouse. We model this problem as a perpetual exploration of a 3D grid by a swarm of beedroids. In this paper, we propose two optimal solutions to solve this problem and so to save humanity.

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Quentin Bramas, Stéphane Devismes, Anaïs Durand, Pascal Lafourcade, and Anissa Lamani. Beedroids: How Luminous Autonomous Swarms of UAVs Can Save the World?. In 11th International Conference on Fun with Algorithms (FUN 2022). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 226, pp. 7:1-7:21, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2022)

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@InProceedings{bramas_et_al:LIPIcs.FUN.2022.7,
  author =	{Bramas, Quentin and Devismes, St\'{e}phane and Durand, Ana\"{i}s and Lafourcade, Pascal and Lamani, Anissa},
  title =	{{Beedroids: How Luminous Autonomous Swarms of UAVs Can Save the World?}},
  booktitle =	{11th International Conference on Fun with Algorithms (FUN 2022)},
  pages =	{7:1--7:21},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-232-7},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2022},
  volume =	{226},
  editor =	{Fraigniaud, Pierre and Uno, Yushi},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.FUN.2022.7},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-159771},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FUN.2022.7},
  annote =	{Keywords: Bee extinction, luminous swarms of beedroids, perpetual flower pollination problem, greenhouse}
}

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Documents authored by Durand, Anaïs

77 Shades of Grey

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Beedroids: How Luminous Autonomous Swarms of UAVs Can Save the World?

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