Recursive Robotic Assemblers
Biology efficiently builds across size scales: at the scale of tens of nanometers, ribosomes assemble more ribosomes, enabling the highly parallelized production of proteins that make up living systems ranging from prokaryotes at the scale of microns, to blue whales at the scale of tens of meters. A...
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| Format: | Thesis |
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2023
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/152015 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2963-8086 |
| _version_ | 1826214186587258880 |
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| author | Smith, Miana M. |
| author2 | Gershenfeld, Neil |
| author_facet | Gershenfeld, Neil Smith, Miana M. |
| author_sort | Smith, Miana M. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Biology efficiently builds across size scales: at the scale of tens of nanometers, ribosomes assemble more ribosomes, enabling the highly parallelized production of proteins that make up living systems ranging from prokaryotes at the scale of microns, to blue whales at the scale of tens of meters. At a level above ribosomes, we might consider cell division as another type of assembly process: as the size scale of the assembled parts grows, the assemblers also grow. This represents a recursive and hierarchical assembly process. In contrast, current robotic and CNC construction processes, though often parallelized, are constrained to pre-set, limited assembly rates and sizes. Inspired by biology, this thesis considers how we might develop recursive and hierarchical robotic assembly systems. That is, similar to a biological assembly system, can we develop a robotic assembly system that is able to build robots, structures, and robots integrated in structures?
To this end, we decompose both the robot and the structures into a set of compatible building blocks, or voxels, that can assemble and reassemble into more complex structures. The decomposition of the robot is based on a “functional voxel” that routes electrical signals and power, in addition to mechanical forces. Robotic modules are made by incorporating actuation, which then assemble into reconfigurable robots using a reversible solder joint. An additional set of construction voxels, which do not contain electrical features, enables the robot to assemble higher performance structures. This work exists at the intersection of modular robotics and collective robotic construction, prioritizing scalability— our ability to produce many robots that then build useful structures.
A set of functional voxels, robot modules, and construction voxels have been developed and characterized. The robotic system is characterized by its function: the robot is able to assemble another robot and the robot is able to assemble construction voxels into small structures. The construction voxel system is characterized using mechanical testing, which verifies that the material system is performant. Together, this demonstrates all the elements required for recursive robotic assembly, in which a robot is able to assemble both more robots and larger structures. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T16:01:29Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | mit-1721.1/152015 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T16:01:29Z |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publisher | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1520152023-09-01T03:04:58Z Recursive Robotic Assemblers Smith, Miana M. Gershenfeld, Neil Program in Media Arts and Sciences (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Biology efficiently builds across size scales: at the scale of tens of nanometers, ribosomes assemble more ribosomes, enabling the highly parallelized production of proteins that make up living systems ranging from prokaryotes at the scale of microns, to blue whales at the scale of tens of meters. At a level above ribosomes, we might consider cell division as another type of assembly process: as the size scale of the assembled parts grows, the assemblers also grow. This represents a recursive and hierarchical assembly process. In contrast, current robotic and CNC construction processes, though often parallelized, are constrained to pre-set, limited assembly rates and sizes. Inspired by biology, this thesis considers how we might develop recursive and hierarchical robotic assembly systems. That is, similar to a biological assembly system, can we develop a robotic assembly system that is able to build robots, structures, and robots integrated in structures? To this end, we decompose both the robot and the structures into a set of compatible building blocks, or voxels, that can assemble and reassemble into more complex structures. The decomposition of the robot is based on a “functional voxel” that routes electrical signals and power, in addition to mechanical forces. Robotic modules are made by incorporating actuation, which then assemble into reconfigurable robots using a reversible solder joint. An additional set of construction voxels, which do not contain electrical features, enables the robot to assemble higher performance structures. This work exists at the intersection of modular robotics and collective robotic construction, prioritizing scalability— our ability to produce many robots that then build useful structures. A set of functional voxels, robot modules, and construction voxels have been developed and characterized. The robotic system is characterized by its function: the robot is able to assemble another robot and the robot is able to assemble construction voxels into small structures. The construction voxel system is characterized using mechanical testing, which verifies that the material system is performant. Together, this demonstrates all the elements required for recursive robotic assembly, in which a robot is able to assemble both more robots and larger structures. S.M. 2023-08-30T16:00:19Z 2023-08-30T16:00:19Z 2023-06 2023-08-16T20:34:31.175Z Thesis https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/152015 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2963-8086 In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted Copyright retained by author(s) https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/ application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| spellingShingle | Smith, Miana M. Recursive Robotic Assemblers |
| title | Recursive Robotic Assemblers |
| title_full | Recursive Robotic Assemblers |
| title_fullStr | Recursive Robotic Assemblers |
| title_full_unstemmed | Recursive Robotic Assemblers |
| title_short | Recursive Robotic Assemblers |
| title_sort | recursive robotic assemblers |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/152015 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2963-8086 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT smithmianam recursiveroboticassemblers |