Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Robots and Lattice Automata pp 47–75Cite as

Modular Reconfigurable Robotic Systems: Lattice Automata

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: Emergence, Complexity and Computation ((ECC,volume 13))

Abstract

Modular and reconfigurable robots hold the promises of versatility, low cost, and robustness. Many different implementations utilizing lattice structures exist, with varying advantages. We introduce, define terms for, and describe in full several key systems. Comparisons between connection mechanisms are made. We describe some of the software concerns for modular robots, and review the applications of self-assembly and self-repair.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  1. An, B.K.: Em-cube: cube-shaped, self-reconfigurable robots sliding on structure surfaces. In: IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation ICRA 2008, pp. 3149–3155 (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Butler, Z., Rus, D.: Distributed planning and control for modular robots with unit-compressible modules. Int. J. Robot. Res. 22(9), 699–715 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Casal, A., Yim, M.H.: Self-reconfiguration planning for a class of modular robots. In: Photonics East’99, International Society for Optics and Photonics, pp. 246–257 (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Castano, A., Behar, A., Will, P.M.: The conro modules for reconfigurable robots. IEEE/ASME Trans. Mechatron 7(4), 403–409 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Davey, J., Kwok, N., Yim, M.: Emulating self-reconfigurable robots-design of the smores system. In: IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2012), pp. 4464–4469 (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Eckenstein, N., Yim, M.: The x-face: an improved planar passive mechanical connector for modular self-reconfigurable robots. In: IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2012), pp. 3073–3078 (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Eckenstein, N., Yim, M.: Area of acceptance for 3d self-aligning robotic connectors: concepts, metrics, and designs. In: proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2014) (2014 (in submission))

    Google Scholar 

  8. Fitch, R., Butler, Z.: Million module march: scalable locomotion for large self-reconfiguring robots. Int. J. Robot. Res. 27(3–4), 331–343 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Fukuda, T., Nakagawa, S., Kawauchi, Y., Buss, M.: Structure decision method for self organising robots based on cell structures-cebot. In: Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp 695–700 (1989)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Garcia, R.F.M., Hiller, J.D., Stoy, K., Lipson, H.: A vacuum-based bonding mechanism for modular robotics. IEEE Trans. Robot. 27(5), 876–890 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Gilpin, K., Knaian, A., Rus, D.: Robot pebbles: one centimeter modules for programmable matter through self-disassembly. In: IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2010), pp. 2485–2492 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Gilpin, K., Koyanagi, K., Rus, D.: Making self-disassembling objects with multiple components in the robot pebbles system. In: IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), pp. 3614–3621 (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Girard, A.R., De Sousa, J.B., Hedrick, J.K.: Dynamic positioning concepts and strategies for the mobile offshore base. In: Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems, pp. 1095–1101 (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Gorbenko, A.A., Popov, V.Y.: Programming for modular reconfigurable robots. Program. Comput. Softw. 38(1), 13–23 (2012)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  15. Groß, R., Dorigo, M.: Self-assembly at the macroscopic scale. Proc. IEEE 96(9), 1490–1508 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Kalontarov, M., Tolley, M.T., Lipson, H., Erickson, D.: Hydrodynamically driven docking of blocks for 3d fluidic assembly. Microfluid. Nanofluid. 9(2–3), 551–558 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Karagozler, M.E., Kirby, B., Lee, W.J., Marinelli, E., Ng, T.C., Weller, M.P., Goldstein, S.C.: Ultralight modular robotic building blocks for the rapid deployment of planetary outposts (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Klavins, E., Ghrist, R., Lipsky, D.: A grammatical approach to self-organizing robotic systems. IEEE Trans. Autom. Control 51(6), 949–962 (2006)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  19. Knaian, A.N., Cheung, K.C., Lobovsky, M.B., Oines, A.J., Schmidt-Neilsen, P., Gershenfeld, N.A.: The milli-motein: a self-folding chain of programmable matter with a one centimeter module pitch. In: IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), pp. 1447–1453 (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Kotay, K., Rus, D., Vona, M., McGray, C.: The self-reconfiguring robotic molecule. In: Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, vol. 1, pp. 424–431 (1998)

    Google Scholar 

  21. Kurokawa, H., Tomita, K., Kamimura, A., Kokaji, S., Hasuo, T., Murata, S.: Distributed self-reconfiguration of m-tran iii modular robotic system. Int. J. Robot. Res. 27(3–4), 373–386 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Murata, S., Kurokawa, H., Kokaji, S.: Self-assembling machine. In: Proceedings of the 1994 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp. 441–448 (1994)

    Google Scholar 

  23. Murata, S., Kurokawa, H., Yoshida, E., Tomita, K., Kokaji, S.: A 3-d self-reconfigurable structure. In: Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, vol. 1, pp. 432–439 (1998)

    Google Scholar 

  24. Murata, S., Yoshida, E., Kurokawa, H., Tomita, K., Kokaji, S.: Self-repairing mechanical systems. Autono. Robots 10(1), 7–21 (2001)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  25. Nilsson, M.: Heavy-duty connectors for self-reconfiguring robots. In: Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2002), vol. 4, pp. 4071–4076 (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  26. O’Hara, I., Paulos, J., Davey, J., Eckenstein, N., Doshi, N., Tosun, T., Greco, J., Seo, J., Turpin, M., Kumar, V., Yim, M.: Self-assembly of a swarm of autonomous boats into floating structures. In: Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA). (2014 (in submission))

    Google Scholar 

  27. Østergaard, E.H., Kassow, K., Beck, R., Lund, H.H.: Design of the atron lattice-based self-reconfigurable robot. Auton. Robots 21(2), 165–183 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Oung, R., Andrea, R.: The distributed flight array. Mechatronics 21(6), 908–917 (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  29. Pamecha, A., Ebert-Uphoff, I., Chirikjian, G.S.: Useful metrics for modular robot motion planning. IEEE Trans. Robot. Autom. 13(4), 531–545 (1997)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Park, M., Chitta, S., Teichman, A., Yim, M.: Automatic configuration recognition methods in modular robots. Int. J. Robot. Res. 27(3–4), 403–421 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Piranda, B., Laurent, G.J., Bourgeois, J., Clévy, C., Möbes, S., Fort-Piat, N.L.: A new concept of planar self-reconfigurable modular robot for conveying microparts. Mechatronics 23(7), 906–915 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Revzen, S., Bhoite, M., Macasieb, A., Yim, M.: Structure synthesis on-the-fly in a modular robot. In: IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), pp. 4797–4802 (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  33. Romanishin, J.W., Gilpin, K., Rus, D.: M-blocks: Momentum-driven, magnetic modular robots. In: IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), pp. 3073–3078 (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  34. Shen, W.M., Kovac, R., Rubenstein, M.: Singo: a single-end-operative and genderless connector for self-reconfiguration, self-assembly and self-healing. In: IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA’9), pp. 4253–4258 (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  35. Shimizu, M., Ishiguro, A., Kawakatsu, T.: Slimebot: A modular robot that exploits emergent phenomena. In: Proceedings of the 2005 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, ICRA 2005, pp. 2982–2987 (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  36. Sprowitz, A., Pouya, S., Bonardi, S., Van den Kieboom, J., Mockel, R., Billard, A., Dillenbourg, P., Ijspeert, A.J.: Roombots: reconfigurable robots for adaptive furniture. IEEE Comput. Intell. Mag. 5(3), 20–32 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Støy, K.: An introduction to Self-Reconfigurable Robots. MIT Press, Boston, MA (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  38. Suh, J., Homans, S., Yim, M.: Telecubes: mechanical design of a module for self-reconfigurable robotics. In: Proceedings of the 2002 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2002), vol. 4, pp. 4095–4101 (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  39. Tolley, M.T., Krishnan, M., Erickson, D., Lipson, H.: Dynamically programmable fluidic assembly. Appl. Phys. Lett. 93(25), 254,105–254,105–103 (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  40. Tolley, M.T., Kalontarov, M., Neubert, J., Erickson, D., Lipson, H.: Stochastic modular robotic systems: a study of fluidic assembly strategies. IEEE Trans. Robot. 26(3), 518–530 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Unsal, C., Kiliccote, H., Khosla, P.K.: I (ces)-cubes: a modular self-reconfigurable bipartite robotic system. In: Photonics East’99, International Society for Optics and Photonics, pp. 258–269 (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  42. Vasilescu, I., Varshavskaya, P., Kotay, K., Rus, D.: Autonomous modular optical underwater robot (amour) design, prototype and feasibility study. In: Proceedings of the 2005 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, ICRA 2005, pp. 1603–1609 (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  43. Vassilvitskii, S., Yim, M., Suh, J.: A complete, local and parallel reconfiguration algorithm for cube style modular robots. In: Proceedings of the 2002 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA ’02), vol. 1, pp. 117–122 (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  44. Wei, H., Chen, Y., Liu, M., Cai, Y., Wang, T.: Swarm robots: from self-assembly to locomotion. Comput. J. 54(9), 1465–1474 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. White, P., Kopanski, K., Lipson, H.: Stochastic self-reconfigurable cellular robotics. In: Proceedings IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA ’04), vol. 3, pp. 2888–2893 (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  46. White, P.J., Yim, M.: Reliable external actuation for full reachability in robotic modular self-reconfiguration. Int. J. Robot. Res. 29(5), 598–612 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. White, P.J., Thorne, C.E., Yim, M.: Right angle tetrahedron chain externally-actuated testbed (ratchet): a shape-changing system. In: Proceedings of the ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference (IDETC/CIE), vol. 7, pp. 807–817 (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  48. White, P.J., Latscha, S., Schlaefer, S., Yim, M.: Dielectric elastomer bender actuator applied to modular robotics. In: IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2011), pp. 408–413 (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  49. Yim, M., Zhang, Y., Duff, D.: Modular robots. IEEE Spectr. 39(2), 30–34 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  50. Yim, M., Roufas, K., Duff, D., Zhang, Y., Eldershaw, C., Homans, S.: Modular reconfigurable robots in space applications. Auton. Robots 14(2–3), 225–237 (2003)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  51. Yim, M., Shirmohammadi, B., Sastra, J., Park, M., Dugan, M., Taylor, C.: Towards robotic self-reassembly after explosion. In: IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), pp. 2767–2772 (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  52. Yoshida, E., Matura, S., Kamimura, A., Tomita, K., Kurokawa, H., Kokaji, S.: A self-reconfigurable modular robot: reconfiguration planning and experiments. Int. J. Robot. Res. 21(10–11), 903–915 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  53. Yoshida, E., Murata, S., Kokaji, S., Kamimura, A., Tomita, K., Kurokawa, H.: Get back in shape![sma self-reconfigurable microrobots]. IEEE Robot. Autom. Mag. 9(4), 54–60 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  54. Zykov, V., Chan, A., Lipson, H.: Molecubes: an open-source modular robotics kit. In: Proceedings of the IROS, vol. 7 (2007)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. GRASP Lab and Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA

    Nick Eckenstein & Mark Yim

Authors
  1. Nick Eckenstein
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mark Yim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nick Eckenstein .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Democritus University of Thrace, Xanthi, Greece

    Georgios Ch. Sirakoulis

  2. Unconventional Computing Centre, University of the West of England, Bristol, United Kingdom

    Andrew Adamatzky

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Eckenstein, N., Yim, M. (2015). Modular Reconfigurable Robotic Systems: Lattice Automata. In: Sirakoulis, G., Adamatzky, A. (eds) Robots and Lattice Automata. Emergence, Complexity and Computation, vol 13. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10924-4_3

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10924-4_3

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-10923-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-10924-4

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation