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Distributed and Cellular Robots

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Springer Handbook of Robotics

Abstract

This chapter is organized according to a number of broad classes of problem where modular robotic systems can prove beneficial. For each such problem, the benefits of modularity are described, along with the ways that particular systems or proposed systems have explored those benefits. In particular, we discuss locomotion in Sect. 39.1, manipulation in Sect. 39.2, modular robot geometry in Sect. 39.3, and robust systems in Sect. 39.4. The systems under consideration in general have some level of independent computation on each module, and this discussion will focus on systems in which modules maintain some sort of kinematic constraint between them during operation. Compared to the types of multirobot teams described in Chap. 40, the systems of interest here are generally much more tightly coupled, both physically and conceptually. That is, we are primarily concerned with systems which, though they have many processors and independent actuators, have a single goal or small set of goals which can only be achieved collectively, rather than a set of goals which can be apportioned to single (or a small number of) robots within the team.

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Abbreviations

CEBOT:

cellular robot

CONRO:

configurable robot

DARS:

distributed autonomous robotics systems

DOF:

degree of freedom

MTRAN:

modular transformer

RMMS:

reconfigurable modular manipulator system

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, Rochester Institute of Technology, 102 Lomb Memorial Dr., 14623, Rochester, NY, USA

    Zack Butler Prof

  2. Boston Dynamics, 78 Fourth Ave, 02451, Waltham, MA, USA

    Alfred Rizzi Prof

Authors
  1. Zack Butler Prof
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  2. Alfred Rizzi Prof
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Correspondence to Zack Butler Prof or Alfred Rizzi Prof .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. PRISMA Lab, Dipartimento di Informatica e Sistemistica, Universitá degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, 80125, Napoli, Italy, Via Claudio 21

    Bruno Siciliano Prof.

  2. Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Department of Computer Science, Stanford University, 94305-9010, Stanford, CA, USA

    Oussama Khatib Prof.

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© 2008 Springer-Verlag

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Butler, Z., Rizzi, A. (2008). Distributed and Cellular Robots. In: Siciliano, B., Khatib, O. (eds) Springer Handbook of Robotics. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-30301-5_40

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-30301-5_40

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-23957-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-30301-5

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

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