April 20, 2017
Mathematics Colloquium Lecture April 20
Alexander Dranishnikov, University of Florida, will present "Topology and Robot Motion Planning" as part of the Mathematics Department Colloquium Lecture series at 2:30 p.m. Thursday, April 20, in 102 Cardwell Hall.
Abstract: Dranishnikov will discuss a relatively new numerical invariant in topology called topological complexity, or TC. This invariant was introduced by M. Farber to study stability of algorithms for robot motion. It turns out that the TC is an interesting invariant to study from the point of view of topology. The TC is quite similar to the Lusternick-Schnirelmann category cat. Both are known to be difficult to compute. Dranishnikov will discuss the relation between them, some computations and general estimates.