Abstract
Self-reliant mobile robots have the potential to perform useful and productive work in remote and hostile environments. A colonial architecture, comprising a population of both static operations robots and modular mobile robots, enables self-reliance. Sustainability extends operational life and enables continued operation beyond disabling events. Polymorphism enables performance of multiple roles at optimal efficiency. In this paper, we present algorithms enabling fault detection, identification and rectification whilst achieving and maintaining mobile robot build orders within an error prone environment. Modules that exhibited faulty behaviour are identified and replaced. When a robot is not required then it is disassembled for storage or polymorphed into a new role. Near optimal physical graceful degradation is demonstrated on a robot module scale. The application described in this research is the automated deployment of a large scale off-world human habitat for 10 to 50 personnel from site clearing to radiation shielding.
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Engwirda, A.E. Sustainable polymorphic colonial robotics and large scale off-world construction. Auton Robot 20, 137–148 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10514-006-5936-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10514-006-5936-3