Deterministic leader election in programmable matter

Yuval Emek, Shay Kutten, Ron Lavi, William K. Moses

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

Addressing a fundamental problem in programmable matter, we present the first deterministic algorithm to elect a unique leader in a system of connected amoebots assuming only that amoebots are initially contracted. Previous algorithms either used randomization, made various assumptions (shapes with no holes, or known shared chirality), or elected several co-leaders in some cases. Some of the building blocks we introduce in constructing the algorithm are of interest by themselves, especially the procedure we present for reaching common chirality among the amoebots. Given the leader election and the chirality agreement building block, it is known that various tasks in programmable matter can be performed or improved. The main idea of the new algorithm is the usage of the ability of the amoebots to move, which previous leader election algorithms have not used.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication46th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming, ICALP 2019
EditorsChristel Baier, Ioannis Chatzigiannakis, Paola Flocchini, Stefano Leonardi
ISBN (Electronic)9783959771092
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jul 2019
Event46th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming, ICALP 2019 - Patras, Greece
Duration: 9 Jul 201912 Jul 2019

Publication series

NameLeibniz International Proceedings in Informatics, LIPIcs
Volume132
ISSN (Print)1868-8969

Conference

Conference46th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming, ICALP 2019
Country/TerritoryGreece
CityPatras
Period9/07/1912/07/19

Keywords

  • Geometric amoebot model
  • Leader election
  • Programmable matter

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Software

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