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From Linear Operators to Computational Biology pp 87–104Cite as

Jack Schwartz and Robotics: The Roaring Eighties

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Abstract

This article reviews the birth and growth of algorithmic motion planning in robotics, and the immense contributions of Jack Schwartz to the creation and development of this area during the 1980s. These contributions have started with the series of works on the “Piano Movers” problem, by Jack and myself (reviewed in detail in this article), and continued in many other works, mostly theoretical but with a strong practical motivation. These works, by Jack and others, have brought together many disciplines in mathematics and computer science, and have had enormous impact on the development of computational geometry.

Work on this paper was partially supported by NSF Grant CCF-08-30272, by Grant 2006/194 from the U.S.–Israel Binational Science Foundation, by Grant 338/09 from the Israel Science Fund, and by the Hermann Minkowski–MINERVA Center for Geometry at Tel Aviv University.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    We note in passing that θ is not a good choice of parameter, because it makes the equations that will arise in the analysis non-algebraic, whereas algebraicity will be a crucial ingredient of the analysis. This is not a serious issue, because we can replace θ by tan(θ/2) and make all the relevant equations algebraic. Still, to make the presentation more readable, we stick to using θ.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Computer Science, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 69978, Israel

    Micha Sharir

  2. Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University, New York, NY, 10012, USA

    Micha Sharir

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  1. Micha Sharir
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  1. Courant Institute of Mathem. Science, New York University, Mercer Street 251, New York, 10012, New York, USA

    Martin Davis

  2. Courant Institute of Mathem. Science, New York University, Mercer Street 251, New York, 10012, New York, USA

    Edmond Schonberg

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Sharir, M. (2013). Jack Schwartz and Robotics: The Roaring Eighties. In: Davis, M., Schonberg, E. (eds) From Linear Operators to Computational Biology. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-4282-9_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-4282-9_6

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