Distributed motion planning for modular robots with unit-compressible modules

The ability of self-reconfigurable robots to solve a variety of robot tasks comes in part from their use of a large number of modules. Effective use of these systems requires parallel actuation and planning, both for efficiency and independence from a central controller. This paper presents the PacMan algorithm, a technique for distributed actuation and planning. This algorithm was developed for systems with unit-compressible modules, such as the crystalline robot. We also describe some analytical properties of the PacMan planning and actuation, and discuss simulation and hardware experiments.

[1]  Toshio Fukuda,et al.  Cellular robotic system (CEBOT) as one of the realization of self-organizing intelligent universal manipulator , 1990, Proceedings., IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[2]  Gregory S. Chirikjian,et al.  Design And Implementation Of Metamorphic Robots , 1996 .

[3]  Gregory S. Chirikjian,et al.  Useful metrics for modular robot motion planning , 1997, IEEE Trans. Robotics Autom..

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

[5]  Eiichi Yoshida,et al.  Self-assembly and self-repair method for a distributed mechanical system , 1999, IEEE Trans. Robotics Autom..

[6]  Hongyan Wang,et al.  Social potential fields: A distributed behavioral control for autonomous robots , 1995, Robotics Auton. Syst..

[7]  Daniela Rus,et al.  Locomotion versatility through self-reconfiguration , 1999, Robotics Auton. Syst..

[8]  Mark Yim,et al.  PolyBot: a modular reconfigurable robot , 2000, Proceedings 2000 ICRA. Millennium Conference. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation. Symposia Proceedings (Cat. No.00CH37065).

[9]  Eiichi Yoshida,et al.  Hardware design of modular robotic system , 2000, Proceedings. 2000 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2000) (Cat. No.00CH37113).

[10]  Daniela Rus,et al.  Algorithms for self-reconfiguring molecule motion planning , 2000, Proceedings. 2000 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2000) (Cat. No.00CH37113).

[11]  Leonidas J. Guibas.  Controlled Module Density Helps Reconfiguration Planning , 2000 .

[12]  Mark Yim,et al.  Telecubes: mechanical design of a module for self-reconfigurable robotics , 2002, Proceedings 2002 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.02CH37292).

[13]  Zack J. Butler,et al.  Distributed Motion Planning for 3D Modular Robots with Unit-Compressible Modules , 2002, WAFR.

[14]  Sergei Vassilvitskii,et al.  A complete, local and parallel reconfiguration algorithm for cube style modular robots , 2002, Proceedings 2002 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.02CH37292).