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Curve shortening-inspired self-reconfiguration of heterogenous hexagonal-shaped modules toward a straight chain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2013

Yizhou Miao ,
Gangfeng Yan  and
Zhiyun Lin
Yizhou Miao
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Industrial Control Technology, College of Electrical Engineering, Zhejiang University, 38 Zheda Road, Hangzhou, 310027P. R. China
Gangfeng Yan
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Industrial Control Technology, College of Electrical Engineering, Zhejiang University, 38 Zheda Road, Hangzhou, 310027P. R. China
Zhiyun Lin*
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Industrial Control Technology, College of Electrical Engineering, Zhejiang University, 38 Zheda Road, Hangzhou, 310027P. R. China
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: linz@zju.edu.cn
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Summary

This study deals with a self-reconfiguration problem of hexagonal-shaped modules from an arbitrary initial configuration to a straight chain. Modules are modeled as the same-sized rigid bodies. Two categories of modules with different functionalities are used. One category comprises two powerful modules, which are expected to play the role of terminal modules in a goal configuration. The other category comprises several ordinary modules, which are expected to fill in the middle portion in a goal configuration. A distributed control strategy, inspired by the idea of curve shortening, is developed for each module to act cooperatively to attain a goal configuration. It is verified that under the proposed strategy, modules eventually converge to a straight chain.

Keywords

Modular robotsMotion planningControl of robotic systemsSwarm roboticsMulti-robot systems
Type
Articles
Information
Robotica , Volume 32 , Issue 5 , August 2014 , pp. 723 - 741
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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