Abstract
We present a method for a large-scale robot collective to autonomously form a wide range of user-specified shapes. In contrast to most existing work, our method uses a subtractive approach rather than an additive one, and is the first such method to be demonstrated on robots that operate in continuous space. An initial dense, stationary configuration of robots distributively forms a coordinate system, and each robot decides if it is part of the desired shape. Non-shape robots then remove themselves from the configuration using a single external light source as a motion guide. The subtractive approach allows for a higher degree of motion parallelism than additive approaches; it is also tolerant of much lower-precision motion. Experiments with 725 Kilobot robots allow us to compare our method against an additive one that was previously evaluated on the same platform. The subtractive method leads to higher reliability and an order-of-magnitude improvement in shape formation speed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The number of robots in the final shape is defined as the maximal connected subgraph, with two robots being considered adjacent if they are within 1 body length apart.
References
Anderson, C., Theraulaz, G., Deneubourg, J.L.: Self-assemblages in insect societies. Insectes Sociaux 49(2), 99–110 (2002)
Bishop, J., Burden, S., Klavins, E., Kreisberg, R., Malone, W., Napp, N., Nguyen, T.: Programmable parts: a demonstration of the grammatical approach to self-organization. In: Proceedings of the 2005 International Conference on Intelligent Robots & Systems (IROS) (2005)
Camazine, S., Deneubourg, J.L., Franks, N.R., Sneyd, J., Theraulaz, G., Bonabeu, E.: Self-organization in Biological Systems. Princeton University Press, Princeton (2003)
De Rosa, M., Goldstein, S.C., Lee, P., Campbell, J., Pillai, P.: Scalable shape sculpting via hole motion: motion planning in lattice-constrained modular robots. In: Proceedings of the ICRA (2006)
Gauci, M., Nagpal, R., Rubenstein, M.: Programmable self-disassembly for shape formation in large-scale robot collectives: online supplementary material (2016). http://goo.gl/VKnMmk
Gilpin, K., Kotay, K., Rus, D.: Miche: modular shape formation by self-disassembly. Int. J. Robot. Res. 27, 345–372 (2008)
Gilpin, K., Knaian, A., Rus, D.: Robot pebbles: One centimeter modules for programmable matter through self-disassembly. In: Proceedings of the 2010 International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) (2010)
Groß, R., Bonani, M., Mondada, F., Dorigo, M.: Autonomous self-assembly in swarm-bots. IEEE Trans. Robot. 22, 1115–1130 (2006)
Haghighat, B., Platerrier, B., Waegeli, L., Martinoli, A.: Synthesizing rulesets for programmable robotic self-assembly: a case study using floating miniaturized robots. In: Proceedings of the 10th International Conference Swarm Intelligence (ANTS) (2016)
Moore, D., Leonard, J., Rus, D., Teller, S.: Robust distributed network localization with noisy range measurements. In: Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Embedded Networked Sensor Systems, pp. 50–61. ACM (2004)
O’Grady, R., Christensen, A.L., Dorigo, M.: Swarmorph: multirobot morphogenesis using directional self-assembly. IEEE Trans. Robot. 25(3), 738–743 (2009)
Rubenstein, M., Cornejo, A., Nagpal, R.: Programmable self-assembly in a thousand-robot swarm. Science 345, 795–799 (2014)
Stoy, K., Nagpal, R.: Self-reconfiguration using directed growth. In: Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems (DARS) (2004)
White, P., Zykov, V., Bongard, J., Lipson, H.: Three dimensional stochastic reconfiguration of modular robots. In: Proceedings of the Robotics: Science and Systems I (2005)
Wolpert, L., Tickle, C., Lawrence, P., Meyerowitz, E., Robertson, E., Smith, J., Jessell, T.: Principles of Development, 4th edn. Oxford University Press, Oxford (2011)
Yim, M., Shen, W.M., Salemi, B., Rus, D., Moll, M., Lipson, H., Klavins, E., Chirikjian, G.S.: Modular self-reconfigurable robot systems. IEEE Robot. Autom. Mag. 14(1), 43–52 (2007)
Zykov, V., Mytilinaios, E., Adams, B., Lipson, H.: Robotics: self-reproducing machines. Nature 435, 163–164 (2005)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Gauci, M., Nagpal, R., Rubenstein, M. (2018). Programmable Self-disassembly for Shape Formation in Large-Scale Robot Collectives. In: Groß, R., et al. Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems. Springer Proceedings in Advanced Robotics, vol 6. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73008-0_40
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73008-0_40
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-73006-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-73008-0
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)