Related papers: Collective Construction of 2D Block Structures wit…
What does it take to build mobile manipulation systems that can competently operate on previously unseen objects in previously unseen environments? This work answers this question using opening of articulated structures as a mobile…
Arbitrary Pattern Formation is a widely studied problem in autonomous robot systems. The problem asks to design a distributed algorithm that moves a team of autonomous, anonymous and identical mobile robots to form any arbitrary pattern…
In this paper, the parking problem of a swarm of mobile robots has been studied. The robots are deployed at the nodes of an infinite grid, which has a subset of prefixed nodes marked as parking nodes. Each parking node p_i has a capacity of…
A metamorphic robotic system (MRS) consists of anonymous modules, each of which autonomously moves in the 2D square grid by sliding and rotation with keeping connectivity among the modules. Existing literature considers distributed…
We argue that hardware modularity plays a key role in the convergence of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI). We introduce a new approach for building robots that leads to more adaptable and capable machines. We present the concept of…
We show that on an arbitrary collection of objects there is a wide variety of higher order architectures governed by hyperstructures. Higher order gluing, local to global processes, fusion of collections, bridges and higher order types are…
From the complex motions of robots to the oxygen binding of hemoglobin, the function of many mechanical systems depends on large, coordinated movements of their components. Such movements arise from a network of physical interactions in the…
We present a new version of our previously proposed algorithm enabling a swarm of robots to construct a desired shape from objects in the plane. We also describe a hardware realization for this system which makes use of simple and readily…
The paper surveys topological problems relevant to the motion planning problem of robotics and includes some new results and constructions. First we analyse the notion of topological complexity of configuration spaces which is responsible…
In this letter we summarize some recent theoretical work on the design of collectives, i.e., of systems containing many agents, each of which can be viewed as trying to maximize an associated private utility, where there is also a world…
Consider a set of $n$ simple autonomous mobile robots (asynchronous, no common coordinate system, no identities, no central coordination, no direct communication, no memory of the past, non-rigid, deterministic) initially in distinct…
While natural systems often present collective intelligence that allows them to self-organize and adapt to changes, the equivalent is missing in most artificial systems. We explore the possibility of such a system in the context of…
We propose a decentralized algorithm to collaboratively transport arbitrarily shaped objects using a swarm of robots. Our approach starts with a task allocation phase that sequentially distributes locations around the object to be…
This paper presents the software architecture and deployment strategy behind the MoonBot platform: a modular space robotic system composed of heterogeneous components distributed across multiple computers, networks and ultimately celestial…
Although the field of distributed optimization is well-developed, relevant literature focused on the application of distributed optimization to multi-robot problems is limited. This survey constitutes the second part of a two-part series on…
Nature provides us with abundant examples of how large numbers of individuals can make decisions without the coordination of a central authority. Social insects, birds, fishes, and many other living collectives, rely on simple interaction…
Assembling parts into an object is a combinatorial problem that arises in a variety of contexts in the real world and involves numerous applications in science and engineering. Previous related work tackles limited cases with identical unit…
We consider methods for connected reconfigurations by finite automate in the so-called \emph{hybrid} or \emph{Robot-on-Tiles} model of programmable matter, in which a number of simple robots move on and rearrange an arrangement of passive…
We investigate gathering algorithms for asynchronous autonomous mobile robots moving in uniform ring-shaped networks. Different from most work using the Look-Compute-Move (LCM) model, we assume that robots have limited visibility and…
Addressable self-assembly is the formation of a target structure from a set of unique molecular or colloidal building-blocks, each of which occupies a defined location in the target. The requirement that each type of building-block appears…