Robot networks with homonyms: The case of patterns formation

Abstract

In this paper, we consider the problem of formation of a series of geometric patterns by a network of oblivious mobile robots that communicate only through vision. So far, the problem has been studied in models where robots are either assumed to have distinct identifiers or to be completely anonymous. To generalize these results and to better understand how anonymity affects the computational power of robots, we study the problem in a new model in which n robots may share up to 1 ≤ h ≤ n different identifiers. We present necessary and sufficient conditions, relating symmetricity and homonymy, that makes the problem solvable. We also show that in the case where h = n, making the identifiers of robots invisible does not limit their computational power. This contradicts a recent result of Das et al. To present our algorithms, we use a function that computes the Weber point for many regular and symmetric configurations. This function is interesting in its own right, since the problem of finding Weber points has been solved up to now for only few other patterns. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.