Robust Collective Behaviors Using Error-Prone Units

by Ho-Lin Chen

California Institute of Technology

Date

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Time

3:00 p.m. — 4:00 p.m.

Place

Persimmon Room

Abstract:  There are many spectacular examples of collective behaviors in nature, ranging from the coordination of cells in a body to colonies of ants and bees to the whole ecological system. In many engineering applications such as molecular programming, swarm robotics and networking, we are also interested in controlling complicated collective behaviors using simple rules. One major challenge is to create a robust system since every unit is only loosely controlled. Performing error correction in such systems requires techniques different from the traditional methods since there is no centralized computation. In systems with collective behaviors, errors must be detected and corrected locally. In this talk, I will describe error correction methods in a collective behavior system called self-assembly. Self-assembly is the process where simple unit assemble into large, complex structures by themselves using simple local primitives. I will also describe a general framework on testing the validity of such error correction designs and some open problems for future research. 

Biography:  Ho-Lin Chen is a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Mathematics of Information of the California Institute of Technology. He received his bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering and Mathematics from the National Taiwan University in 2000, and a PhD degree in Computer Science from Stanford University in 2007. He has broad research interests in algorithms and their applications in various fields, most recently in DNA Computing and in Algorithmic Game Theory.  He has published extensively in top venues, collaborating with leading scientists in the respective fields.

Colloquium Provided By:

the School of Informatics