On the Piano Movers' problem: IV. Various decomposable two-dimensional motion-planning problems

Various special motion-planning problems involving arbitrarily many degrees of freedom are shown to admit relatively simple solutions by techniques based on the connectivity graph approach described by Schwartz and Sharir. The solutions exploit the particularly simple configuration space structure of the robot systems considered. A typical problem is that of planning motions for a 2-dimensional robot system consisting of several arms all jointed at one common endpoint and free to rotate past each other. The algorithm given for solving this problem runs in time O(n^k+4), where k is the number of arms.     

On the complexity of a single cell in certain arrangements of surfaces related to motion planning

We obtain near-quadratic upper bounds on the maximum combinatorial complexity of a single cell in certain arrangements ofn surfaces in 3-space where the lower bound for this quantity is Ω(n ²) or slightly larger. We prove a theorem that identifies a collection of topological and combinatorial conditions for a set of surface patches in space, which make the complexity of a single cell in an arrangement induced by these surface patches near-quadratic. We apply this result to arrangements related to motion-planning problems of two types of robot systems with three degrees of freedom and also to a special type of arrangements of triangles in space. The complexity of the entire arrangement in each case that we study can be Θ(n ³) in the worst case, and our single-cell bounds are of the formO(n ² α(n)), O(n ² logn), orO(n ² α(n)logn). The only previously known similar bounds are for the considerably simpler arrangements of planes or of spheres in space, where the bounds are Θ(n) and Θ(n ²), respectively. For some of the arrangements that we study we derive near-quadratic-time algorithms to compute a single cell. A preliminary version of this paper has appeared inProc. 7th ACM Symposium on Computational Geometry, North Conway, NH, 1991, pp. 314–323.     

Vertical Decomposition of a Single Cell in a Three-Dimensional Arrangement of Surfaces

Let Σ be a collection of n algebraic surface patches in of constant maximum degree b, such that the boundary of each surface consists of a constant number of algebraic arcs, each of degree at most b as well. We show that the combinatorial complexity of the vertical decomposition of a single cell in the arrangement is O(n^{2+ɛ}), for any ɛ > 0, where the constant of proportionality depends on ɛ and on the maximum degree of the surfaces and of their boundaries. As an application, we obtain a near-quadratic motion-planning algorithm for general systems with three degrees of freedom. Received May 30, 1996, and in revised form February 18, 1997.     

A Tight Bound on the Number of Geometric Permutations of Convex Fat Objects in R d

We show that the maximum number of geometric permutations of a set of n pairwise-disjoint convex and fat objects in R ^d is O(n ^d-1 ) . This generalizes the bound of Θ (n ^d-1 ) obtained by Smorodinsky et al. [5] on the number of geometric permutations of n pairwise-disjoint balls. Received August 22, 2000, and in revised form February 6, 2001. Online publication October 12, 2001.     

Sharp Bounds on Geometric Permutations of Pairwise Disjoint Balls in R d

We prove that the maximum number of geometric permutations, induced by line transversals to a collection of n pairwise disjoint balls in \R ^d , is Θ (n ^d-1 ) . This improves substantially the upper bound of O(n ^2d-2 ) known for general convex sets [9]. We show that the maximum number of geometric permutations of a sufficiently large collection of pairwise disjoint unit disks in the plane is two, improving the previous upper bound of three given in [5]. Received September 21, 1998, and in revised form March 14, 1999.     

Simulating underactuated multibody dynamics using servo constraints and variational integrators

In underactuated dynamical systems, the number of control inputs n_u is smaller than the number of degrees of freedom n_q. Real world examples include e. g. flexible robot arms or cranes. In these two exmples the goal is to prescribe the trajectory of an end effector and find the necessary control variables. One approach to model these problems is to introduce servo constraints in the equations of motion that enforce a given trajectory for some part of the system [1]. (© 2014 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

The multipoint Padé table and general recurrences for rational interpolation

We first review briefly the Newton-Padé approximation problem and the analogous problem with additional interpolation conditions at infinity, which we call multipoint Padé approximation problem. General recurrence formulas for the Newton-Padé table combine either two pairs of Newton-Padé forms or one such pair and a pair of multipoint Padé forms. We show that, likewise, certain general recurrences for the multipoint Padé table compose two pairs of multipoint Padé forms to get a new pair of multipoint Padé forms. We also discuss the possibility of superfast, i.e.,O(n log² n) algorithms for certain rational interpolation problems.     

Dynamic Euclidean minimum spanning trees and extrema of binary functions

We maintain the minimum spanning tree of a point set in the plane subject to point insertions and deletions, in amortized timeO(n ^1/2 log² n) per update operation. We reduce the problem to maintaining bichromatic closest pairs, which we solve in timeO(n ^e ) per update. Our algorithm uses a novel construction, theordered nearest neighbor path of a set of points. Our results generalize to higher dimensions, and to fully dynamic algorithms for maintaining minima of binary functions, including the diameter of a point set and the bichromatic farthest pair. This research was supported in part by NSF Grant CCR-9258355     

Multivariate Regression Depth

   Abstract. The regression depth of a hyperplane with respect to a set of n points in \Real ^d is the minimum number of points the hyperplane must pass through in a rotation to vertical. We generalize hyperplane regression depth to k -flats for any k between 0 and d-1 . The k=0 case gives the classical notion of center points. We prove that for any k and d , deep k -flats exist, that is, for any set of n points there always exists a k -flat with depth at least a constant fraction of n . As a consequence, we derive a linear-time (1+ɛ) -approximation algorithm for the deepest flat. We also show how to compute the regression depth in time O(n ^d-2 +nlog n) when 1≤ k≤ d-2 .     

Traversing a Set of Points with a Minimum Number of Turns

Given a finite set of points S in ℝ ^d , consider visiting the points in S with a polygonal path which makes a minimum number of turns, or equivalently, has the minimum number of segments (links). We call this minimization problem the minimum link spanning path problem. This natural problem has appeared several times in the literature under different variants. The simplest one is that in which the allowed paths are axis-aligned. Let L(S) be the minimum number of links of an axis-aligned path for S, and let G _n ^d be an n×…×n grid in ℤ ^d . Kranakis et al. (Ars Comb. 38:177–192, 1994) showed that L(G _n ²)=2n−1 and and conjectured that, for all d≥3, We prove the conjecture for d=3 by showing the lower bound for L(G _n ³). For d=4, we prove that For general d, we give new estimates on L(G _n ^d ) that are very close to the conjectured value. The new lower bound of improves previous result by Collins and Moret (Inf. Process. Lett. 68:317–319, 1998), while the new upper bound of differs from the conjectured value only in the lower order terms. For arbitrary point sets, we include an exact bound on the minimum number of links needed in an axis-aligned path traversing any planar n-point set. We obtain similar tight estimates (within 1) in any number of dimensions d. For the general problem of traversing an arbitrary set of points in ℝ ^d with an axis-aligned spanning path having a minimum number of links, we present a constant ratio (depending on the dimension d) approximation algorithm. Work by A. Dumitrescu was partially supported by NSF CAREER grant CCF-0444188. Work by F. Hurtado was partially supported by projects MECMTM2006-01267 and Gen. Cat. 2005SGR00692. Work by P. Valtr was partially supported by the project 1M0545 of the Ministry of Education of the Czech Republic.     

Frame Self-orthogonal Mendelsohn Triple Systems

A Mendelsohn triple system of order ν, MTS(ν) for short, is a pair (X, B) where X is a ν-set (of points) and B is a collection of cyclic triples on X such that every ordered pair of distinct points from X appears in exactly one cyclic triple of B. The cyclic triple (a, b, c) contains the ordered pairs (a, b), (b, c) and (c, a). An MTS(ν) corresponds to an idempotent semisymmetric Latin square (quasigroup) of order ν. An MTS(ν) is called frame self-orthogonal, FSOMTS for short, if its associated semisymmetric Latin square is frame self-orthogonal. It is known that an FSOMTS(1 ⁿ ) exists for all n≡1 (mod 3) except n=10 and for all n≥15, n≡0 (mod 3) with possible exception that n=18. In this paper, it is shown that (i) an FSOMTS(2 ⁿ ) exists if and only if n≡0,1 (mod 3) and n>5 with possible exceptions n∈{9, 27, 33, 39}; (ii) an FSOMTS(3 ⁿ ) exists if and only if n≥4, with possible exceptions that n∈{6, 14, 18, 19}. *Research supported by NSFC 10371002 *Partially supported by National Science Foundation under Grant CCR-0098093     

On-line algorithms for networks of temporal constraints

We consider a semi-dynamic setting for the Temporal Constraint Satisfaction Problem (TCSP), where we are requested to maintain the path-consistency of a network under a sequence of insertions of new (further) constraints between pairs of variables. We show how to maintain the path-consistency in O(nR³) amortized time on a sequence of Θ(n²) insertions, where n is the number of vertices of the network and R is its range, defined as the maximum size of the minimum interval containing all the intervals of a single constraint.Furthermore we extend our algorithms to deal with more general temporal networks where variables can be points and/or intervals and constraints can also be defined on pairs of different kinds of variables. For such cases our algorithms maintain their performance. Finally, we adapt our algorithms to also maintain the arc-consistency of such generalized networks in O(R) amortized time for Θ(n²) insertions.     

Geometric Pattern Matching in d -Dimensional Space

We show that, using the L _∞ metric, the minimum Hausdorff distance under translation between two point sets of cardinality n in d -dimensional space can be computed in time O(n ^(4d-2)/3 log ² n) for 3 < d 8, and in time O(n ^5d/4 log ² n) for any d > 8 . Thus we improve the previous time bound of O(n ^2d-2 log ² n) due to Chew and Kedem. For d=3 we obtain a better result of O(n ³ log ² n) time by exploiting the fact that the union of n axis-parallel unit cubes can be decomposed into O(n) disjoint axis-parallel boxes. We prove that the number of different translations that achieve the minimum Hausdorff distance in d -space is . Furthermore, we present an algorithm which computes the minimum Hausdorff distance under the L ₂ metric in d -space in time , for any δ > 0. Received March 17, 1997, and in revised form January 19, 1998.     

Maximal antiramsey graphs and the strong chromatic number

A typical problem arising in Ramsey graph theory is the following. For given graphs G and L, how few colors can be used to color the edges of G in order that no monochromatic subgraph isomorphic to L is formed? In this paper we investigate the opposite extreme. That is, we will require that in any subgraph of G isomorphic to L, all its edges have different colors. We call such a subgraph a totally multicolored copy of L. Of particular interest to us will be the determination of X_s(n, e, L), defined to be the minimum number of colors needed to edge-color some graph G(n, ?) with n vertices and e edges so that all copies of L in it are totally multicolored. It turns out that some of these questions are surprisingly deep, and are intimately related, for example, to the well-studied (but little understood) functions r_k(n), defined to be the size of the largest subset of {1, 2,…, n} containing no k-term arithmetic progression, and g(n; k, l), defined to be the maximum number of triples which can be formed from {1, 2,…, n} so that no two triples share a common pair, and no k elements of {1, 2,…, n} span l triples.     

A note on commuting pairs of matrices

We give a short proof of the Motzkin-Taussky result that the variety of commuting pairs of matrices is irreducible. An easy consequence of this is that any two generated commutative subalgebra of n×n matrices has dimension at most n. We also answer an old question of Gerstenhaber by showing that the set of commuting triples of n×n matrices is not irreducible for n≥32.     

On the general motion-planning problem with two degrees of freedom

We show that, under reasonable assumptions, any collision-avoiding motion-planning problem for a moving system with two degrees of freedom can be solved in timeO( _s (n) log² n), wheren is the number of collision constraints imposed on the system,s is a fixed parameter depending, e.g., on the maximum algebraic degree of these constraints, and _s (n) is the (almost linear) maximum length of (n, s) Davenport-Schinzel sequences. This follows from an upper bound ofO( _s (n)) that we establish for the combinatorial complexity of a single connected component of the space of all free placements of the moving system. Although our study is motivated by motion planning, it is actually a study of topological, combinatorial, and algorithmic issues involving a single face in an arrangement of curves. Our results thus extend beyond the area of motion planning, and have applications in many other areas.Work on this paper by the second author has been supported by Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-82-K-0381, by National Science Foundation Grant No. NSF-DCR-83-20085, by grants from the Digital Equipment Corporation, and the IBM Corporation. Work by the second and third authors has also been supported by a research grant from the Joint Ramot-Israeli Ministry of Industry Foundation, and by a research grant from the NCRD—the Israeli National Council for Research and Development.     

Cyclic bi‐embeddings of Steiner triple systems on 12s + 7 points

A cyclic face 2‐colourable triangulation of the complete graph K_n in an orientable surface exists for n ≡ 7 (mod 12). Such a triangulation corresponds to a cyclic bi‐embedding of a pair of Steiner triple systems of order n, the triples being defined by the faces in each of the two colour classes. We investigate in the general case the production of such bi‐embeddings from solutions to Heffter's first difference problem and appropriately labelled current graphs. For n = 19 and n = 31 we give a complete explanation for those pairs of Steiner triple systems which do not admit a cyclic bi‐embedding and we show how all non‐isomorphic solutions may be identified. For n = 43 we describe the structures of all possible current graphs and give a more detailed analysis in the case of the Heawood graph. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Combin Designs 10: 92–110, 2002; DOI 10.1002/jcd.10001     

How to Cut Pseudoparabolas into Segments

Let Γ be a collection of unbounded x -monotone Jordan arcs intersecting at most twice each other, which we call pseudoparabolas, since two axis parallel parabolas intersect at most twice. We investigate how to cut pseudoparabolas into the minimum number of curve segments so that each pair of segments intersect at most once. We give an Ω( n ^4/3 ) lower bound and O(n ^5/3 ) upper bound on the number of cuts. We give the same bounds for an arrangement of circles. Applying the upper bound, we give an O(n ^23/12 ) bound on the complexity of a level in an arrangement of pseudoparabolas, and an O(n ^11/6 ) bound on the complexity of a combinatorially concave chain of pseudoparabolas. We also give some upper bounds on the number of transitions of the minimum weight matroid base when the weight of each element changes as a quadratic function of a single parameter. Received January 17, 1996, and in revised form November 7, 1996.     

The Uniqueness of Odd Pair Designs

A pair design is an ordering of all pairs in {1, 2,…, n} such that pairs that share an element have at least [(n ? 3)/2] pairs separating them. Such designs can be constructed for all n. We present a shorter proof of a result of Simmons and Davis, that pair designs for odd n are unique up to permuting the numbers or reversing the order of the pairs.     

A special set of eigenvectors for the hyperbolic Sutherland systems

We construct the integrals of motion for Sutherland hyperbolic quantum systems of particles with internal degrees of freedom (su(n) spins) interacting with an external field of the Morse potential of an arbitrary strength τ ² . These systems are confined if certain constraints are imposed on τ, the pair coupling constant λ, and the number of particles. The ground state is described by a wave function of the Jastrow form.