Related papers: Connected Assembly and Reconfiguration by Finite A…
We implement and evaluate different methods for the reconfiguration of a connected arrangement of tiles into a desired target shape, using a single active robot that can move along the tile structure. This robot can pick up, carry, or drop…
We consider the problem of reconfiguring a two-dimensional connected grid arrangement of passive building blocks from a start configuration to a goal configuration, using a single active robot that can move on the tiles, remove individual…
This paper investigates the use of a sampling-based approach, the RRT*, to reconfigure a 2D set of connected tiles in complex environments, where multiple obstacles might be present. Since the target application is automated building of…
Assembly of large scale structural systems in space is understood as critical to serving applications that cannot be deployed from a single launch. Recent literature proposes the use of discrete modular structures for in-space assembly and…
Shape formation is one of the most thoroughly studied problems in programmable matter and swarm robotics. However, in many models, the class of shapes that can be formed is highly restricted due to the particles' limited memory. In the…
Fine robotic assembly, in which the parts to be assembled are small and fragile and lie in an unstructured environment, is still out of reach of today's industrial robots. The main difficulties arise in the precise localization of the parts…
We contribute results for a set of fundamental problems in the context of programmable matter by presenting algorithmic methods for evaluating and manipulating a collective of particles by a finite automaton that can neither store…
This paper considers the shape formation problem within the 3D hybrid model, where a single agent with a strictly limited viewing range and the computational capacity of a deterministic finite automaton manipulates passive tiles through…
In this work, we study theoretical models of \emph{programmable matter} systems. The systems under consideration consist of spherical modules, kept together by magnetic forces and able to perform two minimal mechanical operations (or…
We study the problem of motion-planning for free-flying multi-link robots and develop a sampling-based algorithm that is specifically tailored for the task. Our work is based on the simple observation that the set of configurations for…
The concept of programmable matter envisions a very large number of tiny and simple robot particles forming a smart material. Even though the particles are restricted to local communication, local movement, and simple computation, their…
Motivated by targeted drug delivery, we investigate the gathering of particles in the full tilt model of externally controlled motion planning: A set of particles is located at the tiles of a polyomino with all particles reacting uniformly…
It is desirable to enable robots capable of automatic assembly. Structural understanding of object parts plays a crucial role in this task yet remains relatively unexplored. In this paper, we focus on the setting of furniture assembly from…
The algorithmic self-assembly of shapes has been considered in several models of self-assembly. For the problem of \emph{shape construction}, we consider an extended version of the Two-Handed Tile Assembly Model (2HAM), which contains…
We study robot construction problems where multiple autonomous robots rearrange stacks of prefabricated blocks to build stable structures. These problems are challenging due to ramifications of actions, true concurrency, and requirements of…
We consider algorithmic problems motivated by modular robotic reconfiguration in the sliding square model, in which we are given $n$ square-shaped modules in a (labeled or unlabeled) start configuration and need to find a schedule of…
We introduce and analyze a model for self-reconfigurable robots made up of unit-cube modules. Compared to past models, our model aims to newly capture two important practical aspects of real-world robots. First, modules often do not occupy…
In the abstract Tile Assembly Model, self-assembling systems consisting of tiles of different colors can form structures on which colored patterns are ``painted.'' We explore the complexity, in terms of the numbers of unique tile types…
Imagine a robot that can assemble a functional product from the individual parts presented in any configuration to the robot. Designing such a robotic system is a complex problem which presents several open challenges. To bypass these…
In automated manufacturing, robots must reliably assemble parts of various geometries and low tolerances. Ideally, they plan the required motions autonomously. This poses a substantial challenge due to high-dimensional state spaces and…