Geometric constraint systems such as bar-and-joint, body-and-bar and plate-and-hinge structures are ubiquitous in engineering, the natural sciences and technology. Understanding the intrinsic rigidity and flexibility of these systems is fundamental in everything from the design of mechanical linkages and deployable structures, to the analysis of bond-node structures in proteins and materials and the localization and formation control of autonomous multi-agent systems.

The aim of this meeting is to bring together experienced and early career researchers with expertise in the rigidity and flexibility of discrete geometric structures to share perspectives and present new breakthroughs. The roots of this field lie in works of Augustin-Louis Cauchy (rigidity of convex polyhedra) and James Clerk Maxwell (rigidity of bar-joint frameworks) and its development has flourished over the past several decades due to both theoretical and computational advances as well as the emergence of new application areas. As in previous years, this meeting will once again include an applied theme, namely formation control, and it will bring together specialists in discrete mathematics, in rigidity and symmetry, and in computer science and engineering.

Organisers: Derek Kitson, Tony Nixon, Steve Power, Bernd Schulze

This meeting is supported by an EPSRC New Investigator Award "An operator-theoretic approach to graph rigidity" and the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Lancaster University.

The meeting will begin at 2pm on Tuesday 11th June and end at 1pm on Friday 14th June.

The main speakers are

• Bob Connelly (Cornell University)
• Bill Jackson (Queen Mary University of London)
• Viktória Kaszanitzky (Budapest University of Technology and Economics)
• Audrey St. John (Mount Holyoke College)
• Daniel Zelazo (Technion - Israel Institute of Technology)

These will be complemented by a range of shorter talks. Details may be found on the Abstracts page.

The schedule is as follows:

To register for the workshop, email d.kitson@lancaster.ac.uk

Participants

• Evangelos Bartzos (University of Athens)
• John Bowers (James Madison University)
• Katie Clinch (University of Tokyo)
• Bob Connelly (Cornell University)
• Jim Cruickshank (NUI Galway)
• Shane Daveler (James Madison University)
• Sean Dewar (Lancaster University)
• Patrick Fowler (University of Sheffield)
• Dániel Garamvölgyi (Eötvös Loránd University)
• Georg Grasegger (RICAM / JKU)
• Zeyuan He (University of Cambridge)
• John Hewetson (Lancaster University)
• Bill Jackson (Queen Mary University of London)
• Tibor Jordan (Eötvös Loránd University)
• Oleg Karpenkov (University of Liverpool)
• Eleftherios Kastis (Lancaster University)
• Viktória Kaszanitzky (Budapest University of Technology and Economics)
• Csaba Kiraly (MTA-ELTE Egervary Research Group on Combinatorial Optimization and Eötvös Loránd University)
• Derek Kitson (Lancaster University)
• Peter F. Klemperer (Mount Holyoke College)
• Jan Legersky (RISC, JKU)
• András Mihálykó (Eötvös Loránd University)
• Christian Mueller (TU Wien)
• Tony Nixon (Lancaster University)
• John Owen (Siemens)
• Mohammed Padia (Lancaster University)
• Steve Power (Lancaster University)
• Daniel Robertz (University of Plymouth)
• Bernd Schulze (Lancaster University)
• Qays Shakir (NUI Galway)
• Audrey St. John (Mount Holyoke College)
• Shin-ichi Tanigawa (University of Tokyo)
• Louis Theran (University of St Andrews)
• Daniel Zelazo (Technion - Israel Institute of Technology)

Participants may book on-campus accommodation via the University Visitor Room Booking website. Update: Campus accommodation is booked out so we have reserved rooms at the Travelodge in Lancaster City Centre. To book one of these rooms email Stephanie Kutschmann (s.kutschmann@lancaster.ac.uk). Alternatively, the Visit Lancaster site provides links to a variety of other local accommodation.

The University provides information on travelling to Lancaster. The talks will take place in the Postgraduate Statistics Centre (marked PSC on the campus map) in lecture theatre A54.