Distributed Autonomous
Robotic Systems 6

Distributed Autonomous
Robotic Systems 6

Distributed Autonomous
Robotic Systems 6

Self-reconfigurable robots are built from modules which are autonomously able to
change the way they are connected, thus changing the overall shape of the robot.
This process is difficult to control because it involves the distributed coordination of
large numbers of identical modules connected in time-varying ways.
We present an approach to self-reconfiguration where the desired configuration is
grown from an initial seed module. Seeds produce growth by creating a recruitment
gradient, using local communication, which spare modules climb to locate the seed.
The growth is guided by a novel representation of the desired configuration, which
is automatically generated from a 3D CAD model. This approach has two salient
features: (1) the representation is concise, with a size proportional to the global shape
rather than the number of modules and (2) there is a clean separation between the
goal and the local, goal independent rules used by the modules. We demonstrate three
implementations of the local rules for recruitment, and show how one can trade-off
the number of moves and messages, against time taken to reconfigure.

Rachid Alami, Raja Chatila,
Hajime Asama (Eds.)