Universal Coating for Programmable Matter

TL;DR

This paper introduces a universal coating algorithm for self-organizing programmable matter, enabling particles to uniformly coat objects of arbitrary shape without global information, with applications in condition monitoring.

Contribution

It presents the first worst-case work-optimal universal coating algorithm for anonymous, local-interaction particles on arbitrary shapes.

Findings

Algorithm is work-optimal in the worst case.

Particles successfully coat objects of any shape.

No global information needed for the coating process.

Abstract

The idea behind universal coating is to have a thin layer of a specific substance covering an object of any shape so that one can measure a certain condition (like temperature or cracks) at any spot on the surface of the object without requiring direct access to that spot. We study the universal coating problem in the context of self-organizing programmable matter consisting of simple computational elements, called particles, that can establish and release bonds and can actively move in a self-organized way. Based on that matter, we present a worst-case work-optimal universal coating algorithm that uniformly coats any object of arbitrary shape and size that allows a uniform coating. Our particles are anonymous, do not have any global information, have constant-size memory, and utilize only local interactions.