Modular Robot Reconfiguration

Modular robots consist of a large number of independent identical units (or atoms) that can attach together and perform local motions to arrange themselves into a structure best suited for a given environment or task. For example, a robot may reconfigure into a thin linear shape to facilitate passage through a narrow tunnel, transform into an emergency structure such as a bridge, or surround and manipulate objects. Because modular robots comprise groups of identical atoms, they are also more easily repaired by replacing damaged atoms with functional ones. Such robots are well-suited for working in unknown and remote environments.

The term modular comes from the idea of grouping together a fixed number of atoms into a metamodule, which behaves as a larger individual component. This research focuses on algorithms for universal reconfiguration using Crystalline and Telecube metamodules, which use expanding/contracting cubical atoms, and Molecube metamodules using rotating atoms.


Example of a Molecube metamodule used for universal reconfiguration.

Publications related to this project:

  1. Greg Aloupis, Nadia Benbernou, Mirela Damian, Erik D. Demaine, Robin Flatland, John Iacono and Stefanie Wuhrer. Efficient reconfiguration of lattice-based modular robots. In Journal of Computational Geometry Theory & Applications, 46(8):917-928, October 2013.

  2. Greg Aloupis, Sébastien Collette, Mirela Damian, Erik Demaine, Robin Flatland, Stefan Langerman, Joseph O'Rourke, Val Pinciu, Suneeta Ramaswami, Vera Sacristán and Stefanie Wuhrer. Effcient constant-velocity reconfiguration of crystalline robots. In Robotica, vol. 29, no. 1, p. 59-71, January 2011.

  3. Greg Aloupis, Sébastien Collette, Mirela Damian, Erik D. Demaine, Robin Flatland, Stefan Langerman, Joseph O'Rourke, Suneeta Ramaswami, Vera Sacristán and Stefanie Wuhrer. Linear reconfiguration of cube-style modular robots. In Computational Geometry Theory and Applications, vol. 42, no. 6-7, p. 652-663, 2009.

  4. Greg Aloupis, Nadia Benbernou, Mirela Damian, Erik Demaine, Robin Flatland, John Iacono, and Stefanie Wuhrer. Efficient reconfiguration of lattice-based modular robots. In Proc. of the 4th European Conference on Mobile Robots, ECMR'09, pages 81-86, Mlini/Dubrovnik, Croatia, September 2009.

  5. Greg Aloupis, Sébastien Collette, Mirela Damian, Erik D. Demaine, Dania El-Khechen, Robin Flatland, Stefan Langerman, Joseph O'Rourke, Val Pinciu, Suneeta Ramaswami, Vera Sacristán and Stefanie Wuhrer. Realistic reconfiguration of Crystalline (and Telecube) robots. In Proc. of the 8th International Workshop on the Algorithmic Foundations of Robotics, WAFR'08, pages 433-447, December 2008.

  6. Greg Aloupis, Seacute;bastien Collette, Mirela Damian, Erik D. Demaine, Robin Y. Flatland, Stefan Langerman, Joseph O'Rourke, Suneeta Ramaswami, Vera Sacristán and Stefanie Wuhrer. Linear reconfiguration of cubestyle modular robots. In Proc. of the 18th International Symposium of Algorithms and Computation, SAAC'07, pages 208-219, December 2007.