Abstract
In this paper, we address the challenge of realizing full-body behaviors in scalable modular robots. We present an experimental study of a biologically inspired approach to organize the morphology and control of modular robots. The approach introduces a nested hierarchy that decomposes the complexity of assembling and commanding a functional robot made of numerous simple modules. The purpose is to support versatility, scalability, and provide design abstraction. The robots we describe incorporate anatomy-inspired parts such as muscles, bones, and joints, and these parts in turn are assembled from modules. Each of those parts encapsulates one or more functions, e.g., a muscle can contract. Control of the robot can then be cast as a problem of controlling its anatomical parts rather than each discrete module. To validate this approach, we perform experiments with micron-scale spherical catom modules in simulation. The robots we simulate are increasingly complex and include snake, crawler, quadruped, cilia surface, arm-joint-muscle, and grasping robots. We conclude that this is a promising approach for future microscopic many-modules systems, but also that it is not applicable to relatively weak and slow homogeneous systems such as the centimeter-scale ATRON.
Originalsprog | Udefineret/Ukendt |
---|---|
Tidsskrift | Neural Computing and Applications |
Vol/bind | 19 |
Udgave nummer | 6 |
Sider (fra-til) | 787-805 |
Antal sider | 19 |
ISSN | 0941-0643 |
DOI | |
Status | Udgivet - 2010 |
Emneord
- Computer Networks
- Design Abstraction
- Modular Robots
- NCA 2010
- Robots