A decentralized algorithm for assembling structures with modular robots

Recent work in the field of bio-inspired robotic systems has introduced designs for modular robots that are able to assemble into structures (e. g. , bridges, landing platforms, fences) using their bodies as the building components. Yet, it remains an open question as to how to program large swarms of robotic modules so that the assembly task is performed as efficiently as possible. Moreover, the problem of designing assembly algorithms is compounded by the scale of these systems, and by the lack of centralized guidance in unstructured environments. The main contribution of this work is a decentralized algorithm to assemble structures with modular robots. Importantly, we coordinate the robots so that docking actions can be parallelized. We show the correctness of our algorithm, and we demonstrate its scalability and generality through multiple scenarios in simulation. Experiments on physical robots demonstrate the validity of our approach in real-world settings.

Authors

• David Saldaña
• Bruno Gabrich
• Michael Whitzer
• Amanda Prorok
• Mario F. M. Campos
• Mark Yim
• Vijay Kumar 0001

Keywords

• Collision avoidance
• Robot kinematics
• Robot sensing systems
• Bridges
• Buildings
• Modular Robots
• Parallelization
• Building Components
• Actuator
• Assembly Process
• Sequence Of Actions
• Bounding Box
• Euclidean Space
• Building Structures
• Binary Tree
• Space Planning
• Robot Motion
• Geodesic Distance
• Arbitrary Position
• Attachment Mechanism
• Desired Structures
• Multiple Robots
• Single Robot
• Safe Region
• Set Of Robots