Self-Reconfiguration Planning with Compressible Unit Modules

Crystalline Robots: Self-Reconfiguration with Compressible Unit Modules

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 fo...

Distributed Planning and Control for Modular Robots with Unit-Compressible Modules

Self-reconfigurable robots are versatile systems consisting of large numbers of independent 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 for systems with twoor three-dimensional unit-compressible modules...

Hierarchical Planning for Self-reconfiguring Robots Using Module Kinematics

Reconfiguration allows a self-reconfiguring modular robot to adapt to its environment. The reconfiguration planning problem is one of the key algorithmic challenges in realizing self-reconfiguration. Many existing successful approaches rely on grouping modules together to act as meta-modules. However, we are interested in reconfiguration planning that does not impose fixed meta-module relations...

Optimal Kinodynamic Motion Planning for 2D Reconfiguration of Self-Reconfigurable Robots

A self-reconfigurable (SR) robot is one composed of many small modules that autonomously act to change the shape and structure of the robot. In this paper we consider a general class of SR robot modules that have rectilinear shape that can be adjusted between fixed dimensions, can transmit forces to their neighbors, and can apply additional forces of unit maximum magnitude to their neighbors. W...