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On frictional mechanical systems and their computational power

Publication ,  Journal Article
Reif, JH; Sun, Z
Published in: SIAM Journal on Computing
September 1, 2003
Published version (DOI)

A class of mechanical systems connected by frictional contact linkages between surfaces and their computational power were described. A universal Turing machine (TM) was simulated by a universal frictional mechanical system. It was found that the robotic mover's problem was undecidable when there were frictional linkages. It was also observed that a mechanical computer was constructed which had the computational power of any conventional electronic computer with constant number of mechanical parts.

Duke Scholars

John H. Reif
Author John H. Reif Computer Science

Published In

SIAM Journal on Computing

DOI

10.1137/S0097539798346652

ISSN

0097-5397

Publication Date

September 1, 2003

Volume

32

Issue

6

Start / End Page

1449 / 1474

Related Subject Headings

  • Computation Theory & Mathematics
  • 4903 Numerical and computational mathematics
  • 4901 Applied mathematics
  • 4613 Theory of computation
  • 0802 Computation Theory and Mathematics
  • 0101 Pure Mathematics
 

Citation

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Reif, J. H., & Sun, Z. (2003). On frictional mechanical systems and their computational power. SIAM Journal on Computing, 32(6), 1449–1474. https://doi.org/10.1137/S0097539798346652
Reif, J. H., and Z. Sun. “On frictional mechanical systems and their computational power.” SIAM Journal on Computing 32, no. 6 (September 1, 2003): 1449–74. https://doi.org/10.1137/S0097539798346652.
Reif JH, Sun Z. On frictional mechanical systems and their computational power. SIAM Journal on Computing. 2003 Sep 1;32(6):1449–74.
Reif, J. H., and Z. Sun. “On frictional mechanical systems and their computational power.” SIAM Journal on Computing, vol. 32, no. 6, Sept. 2003, pp. 1449–74. Scopus, doi:10.1137/S0097539798346652.
Reif JH, Sun Z. On frictional mechanical systems and their computational power. SIAM Journal on Computing. 2003 Sep 1;32(6):1449–1474.

Published In

SIAM Journal on Computing

DOI

10.1137/S0097539798346652

ISSN

0097-5397

Publication Date

September 1, 2003

Volume

32

Issue

6

Start / End Page

1449 / 1474

Related Subject Headings

  • Computation Theory & Mathematics
  • 4903 Numerical and computational mathematics
  • 4901 Applied mathematics
  • 4613 Theory of computation
  • 0802 Computation Theory and Mathematics
  • 0101 Pure Mathematics