Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T22:29:38.819Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Distributed amorphous ramp construction in unstructured environments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2014

Nils Napp  and
Radhika Nagpal
Nils Napp*
Affiliation:
Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, 33 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
Radhika Nagpal
Affiliation:
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, 33 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: nnapp@wyss.harvard.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

We present a model of construction using iterative amorphous depositions and give a distributed algorithm to reliably build ramps in unstructured environments. The relatively simple local strategy for interacting with irregularly shaped, partially built structures gives rise to robust adaptive global properties. We illustrate the algorithm in both single robot and multi-robot cases via simulations and describe how to solve key technical challenges to implementing this algorithm via a robotic prototype.

Keywords

Control of robotic systemsBioinspired robotsMobile robotsMulti-robot systemsNovel applications of robotics
Type
Articles
Information
Robotica , Volume 32 , Issue 2: Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems (DARS). , March 2014 , pp. 279 - 290
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Berman, S., Halasz, A., Hsieh, M. A. and Kumar, V., “Optimized stochastic policies for task allocation in swarms of robots,” IEEE Trans. Robot. 25 (4)927–937 (2009).Google Scholar
2.Bonwetsch, T., Gramazio, F. and Kohler, M., “Digitally Fabricating Non-standardised Brick Walls,” ManuBuild, Rotterdam, Netherlands (2007) pp. 191–196.Google Scholar
3.Brodbeck, L., Wang, L. and Iida, F., “Robotic Body Extension Based on Hot Melt Adhesives,” Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Saint Paul, MN (2012) pp. 4322–4327.Google Scholar
4.D'Andrea, R., “Flying machine enabled construction,” available at: http://www.idsc.ethz.ch/Research_DAndrea/Archives/Flying_Machine_Enabled_Construction Accessed June 28, 2013.Google Scholar
5.Galloway, K. C., Jois, R. and Yim, M., “Factory Floor: A Robotically Reconfigurable Construction Platform,” IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) (May 2010) pp. 2467–2472.Google Scholar
6.Grushin, A. and Reggia, J. A., “Automated design of distributed control rules for the self-assembly of pre-specified artificial structures,” Robot. Auton. Syst. 56 (4), 334–359 (Apr. 2008).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7.Hjelle, D. and Lipson, H., “A Robotically Reconfigurable Truss,” Proceedings of ASME/IFToMM International Conference on Reconfigurable Mechanisms and Robots (Jun. 2009).Google Scholar
8.Khalili, N., Emergency Sandbag Shelter: How to Build Your Own (CalEarth Press, Hesperia, CA, 2008).Google Scholar
9.Khoshnevis, B., “Automated construction by contour crafting related robotics and information technologies,” J. Autom. Constr. (Special Issue: The best of ISARC 2002) 13, 5–19 (2004).Google Scholar
10.Ladley, D. and Bullock, S., “Logistic Constraints on 3D Termite Construction,” Fourth International Workshop on Ant Colony Optimization and Swarm Intelligence (2004) pp. 178–189.Google Scholar
11.Lindsey, Q., Mellinger, D. and Kumar, V., “Construction of Cubic Structures with Quadrotor Teams,” Proceedings of Robotics: Science and Systems, Los Angeles, CA (Jun. 2011). http://www.roboticsproceedings.org/rss07/p25.html.Google Scholar
12.Magnenat, S., Philippsen, R. and Mondada, F., “Autonomous construction using scarce resources in unknown environments,” Auton. Robots 33, 467–485 (2012).Google Scholar
13.Napp, N. and Klavins, E., “A compositional framework for programming stochastically interacting robots,” Int. J. Robot. Res. 30 (6), 713–729 (2011).Google Scholar
14.Napp, N., Rappoli, O., Wu, J. and Nagpal, R., “Materials and Mechanisms for Amorphous Robotic Construction,” Proceedings of IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) (2012) pp. 4879–4885.Google Scholar
15.Napp, N. and Nagpal, R., “Simulation videos of adaptive ramp construction,” available at: http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/ssr/movies/amorphous-construction/. Accessed June 28, 2013.Google Scholar
16.Naylor, A. W. and Sell, G. R., Linear Opearator Theory in Engineering and Science, Applied Mathematical Sicences (Springer, New York, NY, 1982).Google Scholar
17.Petersen, K., Nagpal, R. and Werfel, J., “Termes: An Autonomous Robotic System for Three-Dimensional Collective Construction,” Proceedings of Robotics: Science and Systems, Los Angeles, CA (Jun. 2011). http://www.roboticsproceedings.org/rss07/p35.html.Google Scholar
18.Revzen, S., Bhoite, M., Macasieb, A. and Yim, M., “Structure Synthesis On-the-Fly in a Modular Robot,” Proceedings of IEEE/RSJ Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) (2011) pp. 4797–4802.Google Scholar
19.Theraulaz, G. and Bonabeau, E., “Coordination in distributed building,” Science 269 (5224)686–688 (1995).Google Scholar
20.Turner, J. S., The Externded Organism. The Physiology of Animal-Built Structures (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 2004).Google Scholar
21.US Army Corps of Engineers Northwestern Division, Sandbagging Techniques (US Army. Corps of Engineers. Northwestern Division, Portland, OR, 2004).Google Scholar
22.Werfel, J. and Nagpal, R., “Three-dimensional construction with mobile robots and modular blocks,” Int. J. Rob. Res. 27, 463–479 (Mar. 2008).Google Scholar