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    "story_id": "mp-2026-09-02-026",
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    "section": "robotics",
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    "headline": "Disconnected Drones Kept Their Search Territories",
    "slug": "disconnected-drones-kept-their-search-territories",
    "dek": "A frontier-connectivity extension stabilizes decentralized exploration plans when communication becomes intermittent.",
    "summary": "A frontier-connectivity extension stabilizes decentralized exploration plans when communication becomes intermittent.",
    "body_text": "The method extends exploration graphs while preserving area partitions as links fail and spatial layouts change. Applied to two existing partitioning methods in simulation, it improved exploration efficiency at low communication rates over prior graph-extension approaches. The result concerns simulated unknown environments, not certified emergency operations.",
    "why_it_matters": "A frontier-connectivity extension stabilizes decentralized exploration plans when communication becomes intermittent.",
    "limitations": [
      "The result concerns simulated unknown environments, not certified emergency operations."
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        "qualification": "The result concerns simulated unknown environments, not certified emergency operations."
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    "tags": [
      "multi-robot exploration",
      "connectivity",
      "decentralized systems"
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      "title": "arXiv preprint 2609.00804",
      "publisher": "arXiv",
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    "description": "A daily newspaper for the age of artificial intelligence."
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    "title": "Disconnected Drones Kept Their Search Territories",
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