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Formal Methods for Mobile Robots

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Distributed Computing by Mobile Entities

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNTCS,volume 11340))

Abstract

Most existing work in the literature typically ensures the correctness of mobile robot protocols via ad hoc handwritten proofs, which are both cumbersome and error-prone.

This paper surveys state-of-the-art results about applying formal methods approaches (namely, model-checking, program synthesis, and proof assistants) to the context of mobile robot networks. Those methods already proved useful for bug-hunting in published literature, designing correct-by-design optimal protocols, and certifying impossibility results and protocols.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    http://pactole.lri.fr.

  2. 2.

    The translation of integral multiplicities into real weights is omitted in this example.

  3. 3.

    Since the robot is oblivious, it has no mean to remember its past frame of reference.

  4. 4.

    As the computation is based on a snapshot taken during the Look phase only, any event taking place after Look cannot have any impact on its result, and one may thus merge the two phases Look and Compute into a Look/Compute one.

  5. 5.

    Note that this demonic action is accessible, i.e. finitely reachable, since the property is defined as inductive.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Laboratoire d’Informatique de Paris 6, LIP6, 75005, Paris, France

    Maria Potop-Butucaru, Nathalie Sznajder & Sébastien Tixeuil

  2. Université Claude Bernard Lyon-1, LIRIS CNRS UMR 5205, Université de Lyon, Lyon, France

    Xavier Urbain

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  1. Maria Potop-Butucaru
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  2. Nathalie Sznajder
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Correspondence to Sébastien Tixeuil .

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  1. University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Paola Flocchini

  2. University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

    Giuseppe Prencipe

  3. Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Nicola Santoro

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Potop-Butucaru, M., Sznajder, N., Tixeuil, S., Urbain, X. (2019). Formal Methods for Mobile Robots. In: Flocchini, P., Prencipe, G., Santoro, N. (eds) Distributed Computing by Mobile Entities. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 11340. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11072-7_12

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