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Author

Giuseppe Prencipe

Other affiliations: Carleton University
Bio: Giuseppe Prencipe is an academic researcher from University of Pisa. The author has contributed to research in topics: Mobile robot & Robot. The author has an hindex of 29, co-authored 86 publications receiving 3702 citations. Previous affiliations of Giuseppe Prencipe include Carleton University.


Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper presents a protocol that allows anonymous oblivious robots with limited visibility to gather in the same location in finite time, provided they have orientation (i.e., agreement on a coordinate system), indicating that, with respect to gathering, orientation is at least as powerful as instantaneous movements.

423 citations

Book
28 Aug 2012
TL;DR: This book focuses on the recent algorithmic results in the field of distributed computing by oblivious mobile robots (unable to remember the past), and introduces the computational model with its nuances, focusing on basic coordination problems: pattern formation, gathering, scattering, leader election, as well as on dynamic tasks such as flocking.
Abstract: The study of what can be computed by a team of autonomous mobile robots, originally started in robotics and AI, has become increasingly popular in theoretical computer science (especially in distributed computing), where it is now an integral part of the investigations on computability by mobile entities. The robots are identical computational entities located and able to move in a spatial universe; they operate without explicit communication and are usually unable to remember the past; they are extremely simple, with limited resources, and individually quite weak. However, collectively the robots are capable of performing complex tasks, and form a system with desirable fault-tolerant and self-stabilizing properties. The research has been concerned with the computational aspects of such systems. In particular, the focus has been on the minimal capabilities that the robots should have in order to solve a problem. This book focuses on the recent algorithmic results in the field of distributed computing by oblivious mobile robots (unable to remember the past). After introducing the computational model with its nuances, we focus on basic coordination problems: pattern formation, gathering, scattering, leader election, as well as on dynamic tasks such as flocking. For each of these problems, we provide a snapshot of the state of the art, reviewing the existing algorithmic results. In doing so, we outline solution techniques, and we analyze the impact of the different assumptions on the robots' computability power. Table of Contents: Introduction / Computational Models / Gathering and Convergence / Pattern Formation / Scatterings and Coverings / Flocking / Other Directions

309 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper considers the setting without assumptions, that is, when the entities are oblivious, disoriented, and fully asynchronous, which means no assumptions exist on timing of cycles and activities within a cycle.
Abstract: Consider a set of $n>2$ identical mobile computational entities in the plane, called robots, operating in Look-Compute-Move cycles, without any means of direct communication. The Gathering Problem is the primitive task of all entities gathering in finite time at a point not fixed in advance, without any external control. The problem has been extensively studied in the literature under a variety of strong assumptions (e.g., synchronicity of the cycles, instantaneous movements, complete memory of the past, common coordinate system, etc.). In this paper we consider the setting without those assumptions, that is, when the entities are oblivious (i.e., they do not remember results and observations from previous cycles), disoriented (i.e., have no common coordinate system), and fully asynchronous (i.e., no assumptions exist on timing of cycles and activities within a cycle). The existing algorithmic contributions for such robots are limited to solutions for $n \leq 4$ or for restricted sets of initial configura...

248 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper studies a hard task for a set of weak robots and shows that the tasks that such a system of robots can perform depend strongly on their common agreement about their environment, i.e. the readings of their environment sensors.

237 citations

Book ChapterDOI
30 Jun 2003
TL;DR: This paper presents the first algorithm that solves the GATHERING PROBLEM for any initial configuration of the robots.
Abstract: Consider a set of n > 2 simple autonomous mobile robots (decentralized, asynchronous, no common coordinate system, no identities, no central coordination, no direct communication, no memory of the past, deterministic) moving freely in the plane and able to sense the positions of the other robots We study the primitive task of gathering them at a point not fixed in advance (GATHERING PROBLEM) In the literature, most contributions are simulation-validated heuristics The existing algorithmic contributions for such robots are limited to solutions for n ≤ 4 or for restricted sets of initial configurations of the robots In this paper, we present the first algorithm that solves the GATHERING PROBLEM for any initial configuration of the robots

211 citations


Cited by
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Journal ArticleDOI
G. W. Smith1

1,991 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper analyzes the literature from the point of view of swarm engineering and proposes two taxonomies: in the first taxonomy, works that deal with design and analysis methods are classified; in the second, works according to the collective behavior studied are classified.
Abstract: Swarm robotics is an approach to collective robotics that takes inspiration from the self-organized behaviors of social animals. Through simple rules and local interactions, swarm robotics aims at designing robust, scalable, and flexible collective behaviors for the coordination of large numbers of robots. In this paper, we analyze the literature from the point of view of swarm engineering: we focus mainly on ideas and concepts that contribute to the advancement of swarm robotics as an engineering field and that could be relevant to tackle real-world applications. Swarm engineering is an emerging discipline that aims at defining systematic and well founded procedures for modeling, designing, realizing, verifying, validating, operating, and maintaining a swarm robotics system. We propose two taxonomies: in the first taxonomy, we classify works that deal with design and analysis methods; in the second taxonomy, we classify works according to the collective behavior studied. We conclude with a discussion of the current limits of swarm robotics as an engineering discipline and with suggestions for future research directions.

1,405 citations

BookDOI
26 Jul 2009
TL;DR: This self-contained introduction to the distributed control of robotic networks offers a broad set of tools for understanding coordination algorithms, determining their correctness, and assessing their complexity; and it analyzes various cooperative strategies for tasks such as consensus, rendezvous, connectivity maintenance, deployment, and boundary estimation.
Abstract: This self-contained introduction to the distributed control of robotic networks offers a distinctive blend of computer science and control theory. The book presents a broad set of tools for understanding coordination algorithms, determining their correctness, and assessing their complexity; and it analyzes various cooperative strategies for tasks such as consensus, rendezvous, connectivity maintenance, deployment, and boundary estimation. The unifying theme is a formal model for robotic networks that explicitly incorporates their communication, sensing, control, and processing capabilities--a model that in turn leads to a common formal language to describe and analyze coordination algorithms.Written for first- and second-year graduate students in control and robotics, the book will also be useful to researchers in control theory, robotics, distributed algorithms, and automata theory. The book provides explanations of the basic concepts and main results, as well as numerous examples and exercises.Self-contained exposition of graph-theoretic concepts, distributed algorithms, and complexity measures for processor networks with fixed interconnection topology and for robotic networks with position-dependent interconnection topology Detailed treatment of averaging and consensus algorithms interpreted as linear iterations on synchronous networks Introduction of geometric notions such as partitions, proximity graphs, and multicenter functions Detailed treatment of motion coordination algorithms for deployment, rendezvous, connectivity maintenance, and boundary estimation

1,166 citations

06 Jul 2009
TL;DR: This dissertation aims to provide a history of web exceptionalism from 1989 to 2002, a period chosen in order to explore its roots as well as specific cases up to and including the year in which descriptions of “Web 2.0” began to circulate.
Abstract: (i) You are allowed to freely download, share, print, or photocopy this document. (ii) You are not allowed to modify, sell, or claim authorship of any part of this document. (iii) We thank you for any feedback information, including suggestions, evaluations, error descriptions, or comments about teaching or research uses.

814 citations

Proceedings ArticleDOI
09 Dec 2003
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors considered the multi-agent rendezvous problem, where each agent is able to continuously track the positions of all other agents currently within its "sensing region" where by an agent's sensing region is meant a closed disk of positive radius r centered at the agent's current position.
Abstract: This paper is concerned with the collective behavior of a group of n > 1 mobile autonomous agents, labelled 1 through n, which can all move in the plane. Each agent is able to continuously track the positions of all other agents currently within its "sensing region" where by an agent's sensing region is meant a closed disk of positive radius r centered at the agent's current position. The multi-agent rendezvous problem is to devise "local" control strategies, one for each agent, which without any active communication between agents, cause all members of the group to eventually rendezvous at single unspecified location. This paper describes two types of strategies for solving the problem. The first consists of agent strategies, which are mutually synchronized, in the sense that all depend on a common clock. The second consists of strategies, which can be implemented independent of each other, without reference to a common clock.

466 citations