Generic Decentralized Control for a Class of Self-Reconfigurable Robots

Previous work on self-reconfiguring modular robots has concentrated primarily on hardware and reconfiguration algorithms for particular systems. In this paper, we introduce a new type of generic locomotion algorithm for self-reconfigurable robots. The algorithms presented here are inspired by cellular automata, using geometric rules to control module actions. The actuation model used is a general one, presuming that modules can generally move over the surface of a group of modules. These algorithms can then be instantiated on to a variety of particular systems. Correctness proofs of the rule sets are also given for the generic geometry, with the intent that this analysis can carry over to the instantiated algorithms to provide different systems with correct locomotion algorithms.