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Self-assembly in Heterogeneous Modular Robots

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Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems

Part of the book series: Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics ((STAR,volume 104))

Abstract

This paper describes the distributed self-assembly of a multi-robot ‘organism’ from a swarm of autonomous heterogeneous modular mobile robots. A distributed self-assembly strategy based on a symbol sequence representation is proposed. Constructed from a tree representation of an organism, the symbol sequence is presented as a well organised nested structure in a compact format. It includes not only information on the topology of the organism but also how the organism will be self-assembled. The proposed approach has been tested with real robot prototypes. Results show that robots can successfully self-assemble to required target body plans within certain time frames.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bristol Robotics Laboratory, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK

    Wenguo Liu & Alan F. T. Winfield

Authors
  1. Wenguo Liu
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  2. Alan F. T. Winfield
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wenguo Liu .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics, Drexel University, Philadelphia, USA

    M. Ani Hsieh

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

    Gregory Chirikjian

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Liu, W., Winfield, A.F.T. (2014). Self-assembly in Heterogeneous Modular Robots. In: Ani Hsieh, M., Chirikjian, G. (eds) Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems. Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics, vol 104. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-55146-8_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-55146-8_16

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-55145-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-55146-8

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

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