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Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems 5 pp 37–48Cite as

Distributed replication algorithms for self-reconfiguring modular robots

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Abstract

Self-reconfiguring modular robots have the ability to reform themselves into a wide variety of different shapes to accomplish their tasks. In addition, a group of self-reconfiguring modules can divide up into several smaller groups to perform operations (such as exploration) in parallel. In either instance, due to the large number of independent modules in the system, distributed algorithms are highly desirable. In this paper, we describe a set of homogeneous distributed algorithms for self-reconfiguring modular robots that allow division and locomotion in two and three dimensional systems as well as recombination in two dimensions. The algorithms are written in a rule-based style inspired by cellular automata, and allow for the development of correctness analyses, which are also presented here.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA

    Zack Butler & Daniela Rus

  2. Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan

    Satoshi Murata

Authors
  1. Zack Butler
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  2. Satoshi Murata
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  3. Daniela Rus
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Advanced Engineering Center, RIKEN (The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research), 2-1 Hirosawa, 351-0198, Wako-shi, Saitama, Japan

    Hajime Asama (Head of Instrumentation Project Promotion Division) (Head of Instrumentation Project Promotion Division)

  2. Department of Precision Machinery Engineering, The Unviersity of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, 113-8656, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan

    Tamio Arai (Professor) (Professor)

  3. Department of Micro System Engineering, Nagoya University, 464-8603, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Japan

    Toshio Fukuda (Professor) (Professor)

  4. Department of Intelligent Systems Graduate School of Information and Electrical Engineering, Kyushu University, 6-10-1 Hakozaki, 812-8581, Higaschi-ku, Fukuoka, Japan

    Tsutomu Hasegawa (Professor) (Professor)

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© 2002 Springer-Verlag Tokyo

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Cite this paper

Butler, Z., Murata, S., Rus, D. (2002). Distributed replication algorithms for self-reconfiguring modular robots. In: Asama, H., Arai, T., Fukuda, T., Hasegawa, T. (eds) Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems 5. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-65941-9_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-65941-9_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Tokyo

  • Print ISBN: 978-4-431-65943-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-4-431-65941-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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