publications

2026

1. 

   Mixed integer quadratic programming for modular robots self reconfiguration problem

   Hakim Mabed, Hervé Manier, Marie-Ange Manier, and 1 more author

   Operational Research, 2026

   Abs DOI

   Recent years have shown continuous progress in nanoscale assembly with the development of affordable large-scale manufacturing technologies. Modular robotics and, especially, the programmable matter is one of the emanations of this evolution, which consists of a set of identical modular robots capable of reconfiguring into any shape. However, the success of such a technology depends on the provided algorithmic solutions that allow shifting from the current configuration to the targeted shape. Major works concerning the modular robots self-reconfiguration problem (MRSR) are based on local and/or distributed heuristics that do not guarantee the optimality of the reconfiguration proposals in terms of energy and convergence time. Furthermore, centralized approaches employ constraint relaxation to reduce the combinatorial complexity of the problem. Therefore, obtained solutions are not practically usable in the physical world. In this paper, we provide the first modeling of the modular-robots self-reconfiguration problem into Mixed-Integer Quadratic Programming Model (MIQP). The model includes at the best of our knowledge all the physical, synchronization, and operational constraints of the horizontal 6-lattice MRSR problem. Modeling the MRSR problem as a MIQP problem allows to use exact optimization solvers to pre-calculate the best reconfiguration plan or to prove the problem’s unfeasibility. The obtained results show the relevance of the MIQP approach, especially for small and mid-size instances. Problems with 10 robots could be solved in a few seconds with sometimes the proof of optimality.

2. 

   Bi-objective Optimization of Electric Vehicle Charging Scheduling with Heterogeneous Chargers Under Time-Varying Electricity Prices

   Imene Zaidi, Latifa Belhocine, Baptiste Buchi, and 1 more author

   In Computational Science and Its Applications – ICCSA 2026, 2026

   Abs DOI

   This paper addresses the optimization of charging schedules in EV charging stations with heterogeneous chargers under time-varying electricity prices. The objective is to decide which demands to accept and how to schedule them to maximize the number of demands served while minimizing electricity costs. We formulate the problem as a bi-objective model and compare two approaches: an exact }}\backslashvarepsilon }}ε-constraint method and a hybrid NSGA-II enhanced with repair mechanisms and refinement procedures. Computational results on 70 benchmark instances with up to 400 EVs and four price scenarios show that the hybrid NSGA-II produces well-distributed Pareto fronts and achieves competitive performance on small instances, while significantly outperforming the exact method on large instances, with improvements of up to }}+59.89\backslash%}}+59.89%in normalized hypervolume and an average gain of }}+40.8\backslash%}}+40.8%for instances with 300–400 EVs. In addition, it reduces computation time by up to }}77\backslash%}}77%, with an average reduction of }}65\backslash%}}65%for instances ranging from 50 to 400 EVs.

2025

1. 

   Machine learning for modular robots self-reconfiguration problem

   Baptiste Buchi, Hakim Mabed, Frédéric Lassabe, and 1 more author

   Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Humanized Computing, Mar 2025

   DOI

2023

1. 

   Learning system for self-reconfiguration of micro-robot networks

   Baptiste Buchi

   Dec 2023

   DOI PDF

2. 

   Machine learning for energy efficient modular robots self-reconfiguration

   Baptiste Buchi, Hakim Mabed, Frédéric Lassabe, and 1 more author

   In 2023 IEEE Smart World Congress (SWC), Dec 2023

   DOI

2022

1. 

   Deep Learning for the selection of the best modular robots self-reconfiguration algorithm

   Francesco Witz, Baptiste Buchi, Hakim Mabed, and 3 more authors

   In 2022 IEEE Symposium on Computers and Communications (ISCC), Dec 2022

   DOI
2. Système expert pour la sélection de l’algorithme d’auto-reconfiguration des robots modulaires

   Baptiste Buchi

   In Ecole Jeunes Chercheuses et Chercheurs en Informatique Mathématique, Jun 2022

2021

1. 

   Translation based Self Reconfiguration Algorithm for 6-lattice Modular Robots

   Baptiste Buchi, Hakim Mabed, Frédéric Lassabe, and 2 more authors

   In 2021 20th International Symposium on Parallel and Distributed Computing (ISPDC), Jun 2021

   DOI