State Machines and Paths
This text discusses two problems involving state machines and paths.
In the first problem, a robot named Wall-E is trying to find his true love, Eve. The robot can only move in four directions, and Eve is located two steps away.
The second problem involves an ant that is trying to find food on an unbounded grid. The ant can only smell food directly in front of it, and it can only remember a small number of things.
The text then asks two questions:
- Describe a state machine model of the problem of Wall-E finding Eve.
- Will Wall-E ever find Eve? Either find a path from Wall-E to Eve or use the Invariant Principle to prove that no such path exists.
The text then answers the two questions, and provides a state machine model for the problem of the ant finding food.