Instructor: Arnold L. Rosenberg
Tel: 413/545-2743; Email: rsnbrg@cs.umass.edu
Office: Room 308, CS Bldg.;
Office hours: by appointment
The course. Cellular automata --- an abstract computational model that dates back to the 1950s --- can form the basis of a practical model for a broad range of computational tasks that require the coordination of many simple computing devices (such as robotic "ants"). We propose using "semi-synchronous" cellular automata as a platform for efficiently realizing ant-inspired algorithms that coordinate robots within a fixed, geographically constrained environment (such as a factory floor). This seminar will read a variety of papers on the basic cellular automaton model and its many applications (such as the game of Life), culminating in a formalization of the Cellular ANTomaton model, which focuses specifically on robotic ants. We shall discuss a number of "proof-of-concept" problems that have ant-robots move and aggregate in various ways, and we shall work together on further such problems.
Prerequisite: CMPSCI 311, or equivalent, with B or better.
Course Work and Grades. Students should be interested in at least one of Algorithmics and Robotics; preferably both. Work will involve class readings plus a project. Details will be provided at the first meeting of the course (Wed., Sept. 5, 2007).
Class schedule. Unless otherwise announced, there will be a lecture every Wednesday, from 1:00 - 3:00, in CMPS 140.
ANNOUNCEMENTS for Fall, 2007