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European Symposium on Algorithms

ESA 1996: Algorithms — ESA '96 pp 546–558Cite as

Generalized streets revisited

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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 1136))

Abstract

We consider the problem of a robot inside an unknown polygon that has to find a path from a starting point s to a target point t. We assume that it is equipped with an on-board vision system through which it can get the visibility map of its surroundings. Furthermore, we assume that the robot is contained in a simple polygon that belongs to the class of polygons called generalized streets. We consider three problems.

  1. 1.

    We present a strategy that allows the robot to search for t in an arbitrarily oriented generalized street where the distance travelled by the robot under our strategy is at most 80 times the length of the shortest path from s to t.

  2. 2.

    We show that there are orthogonal generalized streets for which the distance travelled by the robot under any searching strategy is at least 9.06 times the length of the shortest path from s to t.

  3. 3.

    Finally, we show that even if the location of the target is known, there are orthogonal generalized streets for which the distance travelled by the robot under any searching strategy is at least 9 times the length of the shortest path from s to t.

This research is supported by the DFG-Project ”Diskrete Probleme”, No. Ot 64/8-1. Part of this research was done while the first author was at the Department of Computer Science, University of Waterloo

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Open Text Corp., 180 Columbia St. W., N2L 3L3, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

    Alejandro López-Ortiz

  2. Institut für Informatik, Universität Freiburg, Am Flughafen 17, Geb. 051, D-79110, Freiburg, FRG

    Sven Schuierer

Authors
  1. Alejandro López-Ortiz
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  2. Sven Schuierer
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Editor information

Josep Diaz Maria Serna

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© 1996 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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López-Ortiz, A., Schuierer, S. (1996). Generalized streets revisited. In: Diaz, J., Serna, M. (eds) Algorithms — ESA '96. ESA 1996. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1136. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-61680-2_81

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-61680-2_81

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-61680-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-70667-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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