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An Approach to the Bio-Inspired Control of Self-reconfigurable Robots

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Bio-inspired Computing: Theories and Applications (BIC-TA 2017)

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 791))

Abstract

Self-reconfigurable robots are robots built by modules which can move in relationship to each other. This ability of changing its physical form provides the robots a high level of adaptability and robustness. Given an initial configuration and a goal configuration of the robot, the problem of self-regulation consists on finding a sequence of module moves that will reconfigure the robot from the initial configuration to the goal configuration. In this paper, we use a bio-inspired method for studying this problem which combines a cluster-flow locomotion based on cellular automata together with a decentralized local representation of the spatial geometry based on membrane computing ideas. A promising 3D software simulation and a 2D hardware experiment are also presented.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Since there are an extensive literature on the use of CA for the control of self-reconfigurable robots, we focus on the membrane computing ideas used in this paper.

  2. 2.

    These ideas has been previously used in membrane computing, see [13, 21, 23]. Different approaches bridging membrane computing with other geometric problems can be found in [3, 4] or [16].

  3. 3.

    A detailed description of the cluster-flow locomotion is out of the scope of this paper. A good introduction can be found, e.g., in [8] or [11].

  4. 4.

    See [35] for the technical details on the strategy for the maintenance of the global connection during the locomotion.

  5. 5.

    More details about the mechanical and electrical structure can be found at [6].

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Acknowledgement

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61673137) and the Foundation for Innovative Research Groups of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51521003).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Robotics and System, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China

    Dongyang Bie, Jie Zhao & Yanhe Zhu

  2. Department of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence, University of Seville, Seville, Spain

    Miguel A. Gutiérrez-Naranjo

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  1. Dongyang Bie
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  2. Miguel A. Gutiérrez-Naranjo
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  3. Jie Zhao
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  4. Yanhe Zhu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yanhe Zhu .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Automation, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

    Cheng He

  2. Automation College, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin, China

    Hongwei Mo

  3. School of Automation, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

    Linqiang Pan

  4. Automation College, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin, China

    Yuxin Zhao

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Bie, D., Gutiérrez-Naranjo, M.A., Zhao, J., Zhu, Y. (2017). An Approach to the Bio-Inspired Control of Self-reconfigurable Robots. In: He, C., Mo, H., Pan, L., Zhao, Y. (eds) Bio-inspired Computing: Theories and Applications. BIC-TA 2017. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 791. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7179-9_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7179-9_3

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