Planning, geometry, and complexity of robot motion

Abstract

Robotics has come to attract the attention of mathematicians and theoretical computer scientists to a rapidly increasing degree. Initial investigations have shown that robotics is a rich source of deep theoretical problems, which range over computational geometry, control theory, and many aspects of physics, and whose solutions draw upon methods developed in subjects as diverse as automata theory, algebraic topology, and Fourier analysis. Also presented is some of this theoretical robotics research, emphasizing work relating to the geometric aspects of robot motion planning.