A Distributed Algorithm for Pattern Formation by Autonomous Robots, with No Agreement on Coordinate Compass

摘要

The problem of coordinating a set of autonomous, mobile robots for cooperatively performing a task has been studied extensively over the past decade. These studies assume a set of autonomous, anonymous, oblivious robots. A task for such robots is to form an arbitrary pattern in the two dimensional plane. This task is fundamental in the sense that if the robots can form any pattern, they can agree on their respective roles in a subsequent, coordinated action. Such tasks that a system of robots can perform depend strongly on their common agreement about their environment. In this paper, we attempt to provide a distributed algorithm for pattern formation in the case of no agreement on coordinate axes. We also discuss the limitations of our algorithm.