Structure synthesis on-the-fly in a modular robot

Abstract

We describe a mobile modular robot system that can generate foam to make structural elements. The mobile platform itself is built of CKBot modules and carries extra modules along with a foam generation device. We demonstrate the system synthesizing new robot morphologies: a snake-like robot and a legged robot. We also use the foam structures to encapsulate and pick-up objects and to modify the environment by blocking a door. Our presentation describes the issues that arose in implementing and using this technique.