Sequential parametrized motion planning and its complexity

Abstract

In this paper we develop a theory of sequential parametrized motion planning generalising the approach of parametrized motion planning, which was introduced recently in [3]. A sequential parametrized motion planning algorithm produced a motion of the system which is required to visit a prescribed sequence of states, in a certain order, at specified moments of time. The sequential parametrized algorithms are universal as the external conditions are not fixed in advance but rather constitute part of the input of the algorithm. In this article we give a detailed analysis of the sequential parametrized topological complexity of the Fadell - Neuwirth fibration. In the language of robotics, sections of the Fadell - Neuwirth fibration are algorithms for moving multiple robots avoiding collisions with other robots and with obstacles in the Euclidean space. In the last section of the paper we introduce the new notion of TC-generating function of a fibration, examine examples and raise some exciting general questions about its analytic properties.