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Interlocking Block Assembly

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Book cover Algorithmic Foundations of Robotics XIII (WAFR 2018)

Part of the book series: Springer Proceedings in Advanced Robotics ((SPAR,volume 14))

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Abstract

This paper presents a design for interlocking blocks and an algorithm that allows these blocks to be assembled into desired shapes. During and after assembly, the structure is kinematically interlocked if a small number of blocks are immobilized relative to other blocks. There are two types of blocks: cubes and double-height posts, each with a particular set of male and female joints. Layouts for shapes involving thousands of blocks have been planned automatically, and shapes with several hundred blocks have been built by hand. As a proof of concept, a robot was used to assemble sixteen blocks. The paper also describes a method for assembling blocks in parallel.

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Acknowledgements

This project received seed funding from NSF IIS-1813043 and the Dubai Future Foundation. The authors are grateful to Haopeng Zhang and Geoffrey Hsuan-Chieh Huang, who helped build 3d models of blocks, built robot grippers and recorded videos. The authors also thank Jeremy Betz for useful insights on the geometry of joints. Thanks also to Emily Whiting, as well as members of the Dartmouth robotics lab, for useful feedback and insights throughout.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dartmouth College, Hanover, USA

    Yinan Zhang & Devin Balkcom

Authors
  1. Yinan Zhang
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  2. Devin Balkcom
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yinan Zhang .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Sistemas Digitales, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México, México, Mexico

    Marco Morales

  2. Department of Computer Science, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA

    Lydia Tapia

  3. Universidad Politécnica de Yucatán, Yucatán, Mexico

    Gildardo Sánchez-Ante

  4. Georgia Tech, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Seth Hutchinson

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Zhang, Y., Balkcom, D. (2020). Interlocking Block Assembly. In: Morales, M., Tapia, L., Sánchez-Ante, G., Hutchinson, S. (eds) Algorithmic Foundations of Robotics XIII. WAFR 2018. Springer Proceedings in Advanced Robotics, vol 14. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44051-0_41

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