Study of Group Robots Adaptively Forming A Mechanical Structure. Effect of Mechanical Properties of Cellular Robots on Forming the Structure.

Abstract

This paper describes group robots which adaptively forms a mechanical structure. The group robots consist of identical cellular robots. Each cellular robot has same mechanical structure and control functions. We examined the specs of the cellular robots to generate harmonized grouping behavior by themselves under the following condition. There is a cliff on the ground, where a substance is going to move forward. The mission of the group robots is to support the substance by forming a mechanical structure like a bridge according to the movement. This paper mainly discussed the mechanical specs of the cellular robot required for execution of the mission. We pointed out that three mechanical parameters on sensing stress of the cellular robot are essential for formation of the structure. The formation of the structure was examined by computer simulations discussing the effect of the mechanical parameters.