Related papers: Technical Problems With "Programmable self-assembl…
This paper presents a comprehensive methodology for modeling an on-orbit assembly mission scenario of a large flexible structure using a multi-arm robot. This methodology accounts for significant changes in inertia and flexibility…
With increasing numbers of mobile robots arriving in real-world applications, more robots coexist in the same space, interact, and possibly collaborate. Methods to provide such systems with system size scalability are known, for example,…
The safe control of multi-robot swarms is a challenging and active field of research, where common goals include maintaining group cohesion while simultaneously avoiding obstacles and inter-agent collision. Building off our previously…
Creating autonomous, self-supporting, self-replicating, sustainable systems is a great challenge. To some extent, understanding life means not only being able to create it from scratch, but also improving, supporting, saving it, or even…
Self-assembly materials are traditionally designed so that molecular or meso-scale components form a single kind of large structure. Here, we propose a scheme to create "multifarious assembly mixtures", which self-assemble many different…
Automation in construction has the potential to expand the technological landscape of labor intensive tasks, and bring gains in efficiency and productivity to sustain global competitiveness. In this paper we propose a task-level approach…
Living organisms intertwine soft (e.g., muscle) and hard (e.g., bones) materials, giving them an intrinsic flexibility and resiliency often lacking in conventional rigid robots. The emerging field of soft robotics seeks to harness these…
There is a belief that complexity and chaos are essential for adaptability. But life deals with complexity every moment, without the chaos that engineers fear so, by invoking goal-directed behaviour. Goals can be programmed. That is why…
This paper presents a novel planning method that achieves navigation of multi-robot formations in cluttered environments, while maintaining the formation throughout the robots motion. The method utilises a decentralised approach to find…
Despite the advances made in artificial intelligence, software agents, and robotics, there is little we see today that we can truly call a fully autonomous system. We conjecture that the main inhibitor for advancing autonomy is lack of…
Micro- and molecular-robotic systems act as large-scale swarms. Capabilities of sensing, communication and information processing are very limited on these scales. This short position paper describes a swarm-based minimalistic approach,…
Gathering is a fundamental coordination problem in cooperative mobile robotics. In short, given a set of robots with arbitrary initial locations and no initial agreement on a global coordinate system, gathering requires that all robots,…
Consider the problem of planning collision-free motion of $n$ objects in the plane movable through contact with a robot that can autonomously translate in the plane and that can move a maximum of $m \leq n$ objects simultaneously. This…
The emergent behaviour of autonomous robotic swarms poses a significant challenge to their safety assurance. Assurance tasks encompass adherence to standards, certification processes, and the execution of verification and validation (V&V)…
Self-assembly of modular robotic systems enables the construction of complex robotic configurations to adapt to different tasks. This paper presents a framework for SMORES types of modular robots to efficiently self-assemble into tree…
The advancement of insect-computer hybrid robots holds significant promise for navigating complex terrains and enhancing robotics applications. This study introduced an automatic assembly method for insect-computer hybrid robots, which was…
Experiments have reached a monumental capacity for designing and synthesizing microscopic particles for self-assembly, making it possible to precisely control particle concentrations, shapes, and interactions. However, more physical insight…
An effective human-robot collaborative process results in the reduction of the operator's workload, promoting a more efficient, productive, safer and less error-prone working environment. However, the implementation of collaborative robots…
Individualized manufacturing is becoming an important approach as a means to fulfill increasingly diverse and specific consumer requirements and expectations. While there are various solutions to the implementation of the manufacturing…
Mobile microrobots are envisioned to be useful in a wide range of high-impact applications, many of which requiring cohesive group formation to maintain self-bounded swarms in the absence of confining boundaries. Cohesive group formation…