Self-assembly and self-repair of arbitrary shapes by a swarm of reactive robots: algorithms and simulations

• Published in: Autonomous robots Vol. 28; no. 2; pp. 197 - 211
• Main Authors: Arbuckle, D. J., Requicha, A. A. G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01.02.2010; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Algorithms; Apexes; Artificial Intelligence; Computer Imaging; Computer simulation; Construction methods; Control; Engineering; Graph theory; Mechatronics; Nanotechnology devices; Pattern Recognition and Graphics; Repair; Replication; Robotics; Robotics and Automation; Robots; Self-assembly; Vision; Global-to-local compilation; Robot swarms; Self-assembly; Self-repair; Minimalistic robots; Distributed robotics; Nanorobots; Reactive robots; Self-organization
• ISSN: 0929-5593; 1573-7527
• DOI: 10.1007/s10514-009-9162-7

Self-assembly of active, robotic agents, rather than of passive agents such as molecules, is an emerging research field that is attracting increasing attention. Active self-assembly techniques are especially attractive at very small spatial scales, where alternative construction methods are unavailable or have severe limitations. Building nanostructures by using swarms of very simple nanorobots is a promising approach for manufacturing nanoscale devices and systems. The method described in this paper allows a group of simple, physically identical, identically programmed and reactive (i.e., stateless) agents to construct and repair polygonal approximations to arbitrary structures in the plane. The distributed algorithms presented here are tolerant of robot failures and of externally-induced disturbances. The structures are self-healing, and self-replicating in a weak sense. Their components can be re-used once the structures are no longer needed. A specification of vertices at relative positions, and the edges between them, is translated by a compiler into reactive rules for assembly agents. These rules lead to the construction and repair of the specified shape. Simulation results are presented, which validate the proposed algorithms.