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http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996418
Code created for shape-shifting robots
19:39 17 September 04
NewScientist.com news service
Robots that change shape and even split into smaller parts
to explore unfamiliar terrain could soon be feasible
thanks to new algorithms designed to enable
such metamorphic tricks.
Zack Butler and colleagues at Dartmouth College
in New Hampshire, US, developed algorithms to
control robots made from identical components,
each capable of moving on their own but also able
to attach to o
e another. As this is beyond current hardware,
they constructed virtual modular bots and used a
software simulator to test them.
The modular robot can move along as a complete unit,
built up
r
of around 100 smaller parts.
But when faced with an impassable obstacle,
some of these
modules can detach and proceed
as a smaller unit, or even on their own.
Once the obstacle has been passed, however,
the smaller units will automatically recombine
into the larger whole, enabling them to travel
over different terrain once more.
Cover ground
"These algorithms are the first step toward using the power
of modularity to work in parallel,"
Butler told New Scientist.
"They could allow the use of modular robots
to perform parallel exploration,
dividing up and recombining to cover ground faster
while still having the capability of the original system."
Normally a robot has a single central control compo
nent.
But the researcher's goal was to develop distributed software
for each module, so that the robot could split and
still carry on with its mission.
Simulations showed that complex shap
e s
hifting robots
could be controlled by giving each module an identical algorithm
with its own relatively simple set of rules to follow.
Planetary surface
In a paper published in the International Journal of Robotics Research,
the researchers also demonstrated mathematically
that the algorithms would work under any circumstances
for the geometry of the simulated robots.
MORE AT LINK
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996418
Code created for shape-shifting robots
19:39 17 September 04
NewScientist.com news service
Robots that change shape and even split into smaller parts
to explore unfamiliar terrain could soon be feasible
thanks to new algorithms designed to enable
such metamorphic tricks.
Zack Butler and colleagues at Dartmouth College
in New Hampshire, US, developed algorithms to
control robots made from identical components,
each capable of moving on their own but also able
to attach to o
e another. As this is beyond current hardware,
they constructed virtual modular bots and used a
software simulator to test them.
The modular robot can move along as a complete unit,
built up
r
of around 100 smaller parts.
But when faced with an impassable obstacle,
some of these
modules can detach and proceed
as a smaller unit, or even on their own.
Once the obstacle has been passed, however,
the smaller units will automatically recombine
into the larger whole, enabling them to travel
over different terrain once more.
Cover ground
"These algorithms are the first step toward using the power
of modularity to work in parallel,"
Butler told New Scientist.
"They could allow the use of modular robots
to perform parallel exploration,
dividing up and recombining to cover ground faster
while still having the capability of the original system."
Normally a robot has a single central control compo
nent.
But the researcher's goal was to develop distributed software
for each module, so that the robot could split and
still carry on with its mission.
Simulations showed that complex shap
e s
hifting robots
could be controlled by giving each module an identical algorithm
with its own relatively simple set of rules to follow.
Planetary surface
In a paper published in the International Journal of Robotics Research,
the researchers also demonstrated mathematically
that the algorithms would work under any circumstances
for the geometry of the simulated robots.
MORE AT LINK