So this is a bit off topic, but I've looked for a while and I think that I
just don't know the right way to search for this, and someone on the list may
know a better way to do it.
I've got a device with four tips that can access points on a 2d surface like
1 2 3 4
.......
where by that I mean it hits the first dot then it hits the third dot then
the fifth then the 7th. If I want to hit the first then the second, I have
to move one unit to the left. If I want to hit the first then the first on
the next row, I have to move one row down and two units left. After the 4th
access then the first tip is used again (so it will be to the left by seven
from wherever the 4th hit is).
Now, what I have is a matrix of spots that I need to hit and I want to move
through the points as quickly as possible. This is generally the travelling
salesman problem I think, but it's nonlinear.
Essentially, I think that this is best broken up into two problems:
1) find the sets of 4 hits to do at a time then
2) connect those sets by a best path.
My first attempt was a simple greedy search, and it (predictably) didn't work
too well. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to best accomplish this or
any resources to look into for it?
Thanks,
Bill
--
The decision doesn't have to be logical, it is unanimous.
-- unknown
-------------------------------------------------------------
Octave is freely available under the terms of the GNU GPL.
Octave's home on the web: http://www.octave.org
How to fund new projects: http://www.octave.org/funding.html
Subscription information: http://www.octave.org/archive.html
-------------------------------------------------------------