On synchronous robotic networks Part I: Models, tasks and complexity notions

This paper proposes a formal model for a network of robotic agents that move and communicate. Building on concepts from distributed computation, robotics and control theory, we define notions of robotic network, control and communication law, coordination task, and time and communication complexity. We illustrate our model and compute the proposed complexity measures in the example of a network of locally connected agents on a circle that agree upon a direction of motion and pursue their immediate neighbors.