Spatial
Superbot by PRL
Researchers at the Polymorphic Robotics laboratory have designed and manufactured a modular robot called the SuperBot. SuperBot is a modular robot that consists of many reconfigurable modules that can demonstrate multifunction and reconfiguration for running, climbing, structuring, and many other activities in real environments.
DRL Self-Reconfiguration Algorithms with Cellular Automata
Researchers at the Dartmouth Robotics Laboratory have tested a number of different algorithms on digital models to test how algorithms are able to adapt to different types of variable input. The idea is that simple algorithms that work for an idealized system can then be instantiated on to a variety of actual systems while retaining the correctness of the generic algorithms.
Utility Fog by John Storrs Hall
Utility Fog is a hypothetical collection of tiny robots, envisioned by Dr. John Storrs Hall while he was thinking about a nanotechnological replacement for car seatbelts. The robots would be microscopic, with extending arms reaching in several different directions, and could perform lattice reconfiguration. Grabbers at the ends of the arms would allow the robots (or foglets) to mechanically link to one another and share both information and energy, enabling them to act as a continuous substance with mechanical and optical properties that could be varied over a wide range. Each foglet would have substantial computing power, and would be able to communicate with its neighbors.
CCSL Self Replication Robots
Hod Lipson at the Cornell Computational Synthesis Lab created intelligent robotic modules that have the ability to recreate themselves. This system was designed so that the number of modules could grow thus making it possible for the system as a whole to have more variation at a larger scale. These robots were made using 3d printing technology compounded with individual microprocessors. Self-similar modules have the ability to wirelessly connect and reconnect through electro-magnetic male-female connections.
Mtran 2 and 3 by DSDRG
The Distributed System Design Research Group began experimenting with different generations of the MTran 2 robots in the hopes of creating a system of self similar robotic modules that would have the ability to change their geometry to accomplish goals. Rapid prototyping, particularly involving the fabrication of electronic parts and a laser cut plastics allow for modules to be inexpensively and quickly manufactured. Much of the logic behind this system mimmicks animal body typology and locomotion. But this system based on its geometry has the ability to nest creating solid objects, limiting gaps between objects. Self-similar modules have the ability to wirelessly connect and reconnect through physical male-female connections.
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Metamorphic Space by Robert Miles Kemp
Miles Kemp’s Masters Thesis at Southern California Institute of Architecture looked at the logic behind robot precedents at the Cornell and Xerox Parc and developed a series of robot prototypes that related to reconfigurable architectural space.
