Simulation and Analysis of Self-Replicating Robot Decision-Making Systems

Abstract

Self-replicating robot systems (SRRSs) are a new prospective paradigm for robotic exploration. They can potentially facilitate lower mission costs and enhance mission capabilities by allowing some materials, which are needed for robotic system construction, to be collected in situ and used for robot fabrication. The use of a self-replicating robot system can potentially lower risk aversion, due to the ability to potentially replenish lost or damaged robots, and may increase the likelihood of mission success. This paper proposes and compares system configurations of an SRRS. A simulation system was designed and is used to model how an SRRS performs based on its system configuration, attributes, and operating environment. Experiments were conducted using this simulation and the results are presented.