Distributed control diffusion: towards a flexible programming paradigm for modular robots

Abstract

A self-reconfigurable robot is a robotic device that can change its own shape.<br/>Self-reconfigurable robots are commonly built from multiple identical modules that can<br/>manipulate each other to change the shape of the robot. The robot can also perform tasks<br/>such as locomotion without changing shape. Programming a modular, self-reconfigurable<br/>robot is however a complicated task: the robot is essentially a real-time, distributed<br/>embedded system, where control and communication paths often are tightly coupled to the<br/>current physical configuration of the robot. To facilitate the task of programming<br/>modular, self-reconfigurable robots, we present the concept of distributed control<br/>diffusion: distributed queries are used to identify modules that play a specific role<br/>in the robot, and behaviors that implement specific control strategies are diffused<br/>throughout the robot based on these role assignments. This approach allows the programmer<br/>to dynamically distribute behaviors throughout a robot and moreover provides a partial<br/>abstraction over the concrete physical shape of the robot. <br/><br/>We have implemented a prototype of a distributed control diffusion system for the ATRON<br/>modular, self-reconfigurable robot. The prototype relies on a simple virtual machine<br/>with a dedicated instruction set, allowing mobile programs to migrate between the modules<br/>that constitute a robot. Through a number of simulated experiments, we should how a<br/>single rule-based controller program implemented using distributed control diffusion can perform<br/>simple obstacle avoidance in a wide range of different car-like robots constructed using<br/>ATRON modules<br/><br/><br/>