The Self-Reconfiguring Robotic Molecule: Design and Control Algorithms

Abstract

this paper we describe the motion control for these operations and we show a geometric approach to specifying and planning molecular motion on a substrate of Molecules in O(n) time, where n is the number of Molecules in the substrate. The Molecule is a 4 degree-of-freedom, small-scale module capable of aggregating with other identical modules to form three-dimensional dynamic structures. The Molecule consists of two atoms connected by a right-angle rigid bond (see Figure 2.) Each atom has 5 inter-Molecule connectors and two degrees of freedom. One degree of freedom allows rotation about one connector. The second degree-of-freedom allows rotation of the atom about the bond. Detailed descriptions of the design and control of the Molecule can be found in [8]. A set of such Molecules can self-aggregate as arbitrary three-dimensional structures. We show this result by demonstrating several different tilings of the plane with the Molecule. The tilings can be stacked so that the resulting structures are three-dimensional. A structure made of Molecules can self-reconfigure by using the basic Molecule motions. For example, a structure made of Molecules can climb a set of stairs by selfreconfiguration as follows (see Figure 5). Linear motions are used to place the structure at the bottom of the staircase. Concave transitions and linear motions enable Molecules to climb on top of each other, composing a tower whose height equals the height of the K. Kotay, D. Rus, M. Vona, C. McGray