A Distributed Method for Reconfiguration of 3-D Homogeneous Structure

A distributed reconfiguration method is proposed for a 3-D reconfigurable structure, composed of many identical mechanical units. The method aims to enable the structure to transform itself into desired structure from an arbitrary initial configuration. The proposed method is implemented in such a way that each unit has identical software as well as hardware, so that any unit can play any role in the system. It is also featured by a stochastic relaxation process, which allows the system to converge to a given target structure by searching for a proper unit motion over many degrees of freedom. Furthermore, the method is extended for the structure to reconfigure itself dynamically according to the environment. The effectiveness of the method is confirmed by computer simulations.

[1]  Daniela Rus,et al.  Motion synthesis for the self-reconfiguring molecule , 1998, Proceedings. 1998 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems. Innovations in Theory, Practice and Applications (Cat. No.98CH36190).

[2]  Eiichi Yoshida,et al.  Reconfiguration Method for a Distributed Mechanical System , 1996 .

[3]  G. Chirikjian,et al.  Evaluating efficiency of self-reconfiguration in a class of modular robots , 1996 .

[4]  Satoshi Murata,et al.  Clock Synchronization Mechanisms for a Distributed Autonomous System , 1996, J. Robotics Mechatronics.

[5]  Eiichi Yoshida,et al.  A 3-D self-reconfigurable structure and experiments , 1998, Proceedings. 1998 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems. Innovations in Theory, Practice and Applications (Cat. No.98CH36190).

[6]  Eiichi Yoshida,et al.  Distributed formation control for a modular mechanical system , 1997, Proceedings of the 1997 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robot and Systems. Innovative Robotics for Real-World Applications. IROS '97.

[7]  Eiichi Yoshida,et al.  A 3-D self-reconfigurable structure , 1998, Proceedings. 1998 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.98CH36146).

[8]  Craig D. McGray,et al.  The self-reconfiguring robotic molecule , 1998, Proceedings. 1998 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.98CH36146).

[9]  Yoshio Kawauchi,et al.  Structure decision method for self organising robots based on cell structures-CEBOT , 1989, Proceedings, 1989 International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[10]  Tetsuo Tomiyama,et al.  The development of a cellular automatic warehouse , 1996, Proceedings of IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems. IROS '96.

[11]  Donald Geman,et al.  Stochastic Relaxation, Gibbs Distributions, and the Bayesian Restoration of Images , 1984, IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence.

[12]  H. Kurokawa,et al.  Self-assembling machine , 1994, Proceedings of the 1994 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[13]  Mark Yim,et al.  New locomotion gaits , 1994, Proceedings of the 1994 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[14]  Arthur C. Sanderson,et al.  Tetrobot: A Modular Approach to Reconfigurable Parallel Robotics , 1997 .