Franck Petit
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Sorbonne Université, Modélisation, information et systèmes, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Université Paris Cité, Laboratoire de Recherche en Informatique, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Université de Picardie Jules Verne, Laboratoire de l'Informatique du Parallélisme, Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies du numérique
Papers
34
Total Citations
629
H-Index
16
About
Franck Petit is a prominent computer scientist whose research lies at the intersection of distributed computing and autonomous mobile robotics, with a particular focus on the theoretical foundations of robot network coordination. His work has made significant contributions to understanding how simple, resource-constrained robots can collectively solve complex spatial tasks without centralized control. Petit has tackled fundamental problems in swarm robotics, including leader election, pattern formation, gathering, scattering, and exploration. His 2010 paper examining the relationship between leader election and pattern formation problems — cited 76 times — established important theoretical boundaries between these classical challenges. His investigations into oblivious robots, which lack memory of past states, are especially noteworthy; his work on optimal grid and ring exploration by such robots demonstrated that meaningful coordination is achievable even under severe computational constraints. A recurring theme in Petit's research is optimality and self-stabilization — designing protocols that recover from arbitrary initial configurations, as seen in his self-stabilizing gathering contributions. His complexity analysis of deterministic robot-network localization further highlights his rigorous theoretical approach. With over 390 cumulative citations across his most recognized works, Petit's research continues to shape the algorithmic foundations of distributed robotics and multi-agent systems.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1Leader Election Problem versus Pattern Formation Problem76 citations · 2010
- 2Optimal Grid Exploration by Asynchronous Oblivious Robots60 citations · 2012
- 3Self-stabilizing gathering with strong multiplicity detection49 citations · 2011
- 4Optimal Probabilistic Ring Exploration by Semi-synchronous Oblivious Robots39 citations · 2010
- 5Optimal probabilistic ring exploration by semi-synchronous oblivious robots36 citations · 2013
- 6Deterministic Robot-Network Localization is Hard30 citations · 2010
- 7SCATTER OF ROBOTS27 citations · 2009
- 8Self-stabilizing Deterministic Gathering25 citations · 2009
- 9Discovering and Assessing Fine-Grained Metrics in Robot Networks Protocols25 citations · 2014
- 10Circle formation of weak robots and Lyndon words25 citations · 2006