Robot pebbles: One centimeter modules for programmable matter through self-disassembly

This paper describes the design, fabrication, and experimental results of a programmable matter system capable of 2D shape formation through subtraction. The system is composed of autonomous 1cm modules which use custom-designed electropermanent magnets to bond, communicate, and share power with the...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Knaian, Ara N., Gilpin, Kyle W, Rus, Daniela L
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Bits and Atoms
Format: Article
Language:en_US
Published: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 2012
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/70987
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5473-3566
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9034-2340
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7336-6503
_version_ 1826206598693912576
author Knaian, Ara N.
Gilpin, Kyle W
Rus, Daniela L
author2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Bits and Atoms
author_facet Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Bits and Atoms
Knaian, Ara N.
Gilpin, Kyle W
Rus, Daniela L
author_sort Knaian, Ara N.
collection MIT
description This paper describes the design, fabrication, and experimental results of a programmable matter system capable of 2D shape formation through subtraction. The system is composed of autonomous 1cm modules which use custom-designed electropermanent magnets to bond, communicate, and share power with their neighbors. Given an initial block composed of many of these modules latched together in a regular crystalline structure, our system is able to form shapes by detaching the unnecessary modules. Many experiments show that the modules in our system are able to distribute data at 9600bps to their neighbors with a 98.5% success rate after four retries, and the connectors are able to support over 85 times the weight of a single module.
first_indexed 2024-09-23T13:35:07Z
format Article
id mit-1721.1/70987
institution Massachusetts Institute of Technology
language en_US
last_indexed 2024-09-23T13:35:07Z
publishDate 2012
publisher Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
record_format dspace
spelling mit-1721.1/709872022-09-28T14:50:31Z Robot pebbles: One centimeter modules for programmable matter through self-disassembly Knaian, Ara N. Gilpin, Kyle W Rus, Daniela L Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Bits and Atoms Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory Program in Media Arts and Sciences (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Rus, Daniela L. Gilpin, Kyle W. Knaian, Ara N. Rus, Daniela L. This paper describes the design, fabrication, and experimental results of a programmable matter system capable of 2D shape formation through subtraction. The system is composed of autonomous 1cm modules which use custom-designed electropermanent magnets to bond, communicate, and share power with their neighbors. Given an initial block composed of many of these modules latched together in a regular crystalline structure, our system is able to form shapes by detaching the unnecessary modules. Many experiments show that the modules in our system are able to distribute data at 9600bps to their neighbors with a 98.5% success rate after four retries, and the connectors are able to support over 85 times the weight of a single module. United States. Army Research Office (grant number W911NF-08-1-0228) United States. Army Research Office (grant number W911NF-08-1-0254) Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Bits and Atoms Intel Corporation National Science Foundation (U.S.) ( EFRI grant) National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship United States. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA Programmable Matter program) 2012-06-01T17:44:10Z 2012-06-01T17:44:10Z 2010-05 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/ConferencePaper 978-1-4244-5040-4 978-1-4244-5038-1 1050-4729 INSPEC Accession Number: 11431212 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/70987 Gilpin, Kyle, Ara Knaian, and Daniela Rus. “Robot Pebbles: One Centimeter Modules for Programmable Matter Through Self-disassembly.” IEEE, 2010. 2485–2492. Web.© 2010 IEEE. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5473-3566 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9034-2340 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7336-6503 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/ROBOT.2010.5509817 Proceedings for 2010 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), ICRA 2010 Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers IEEE
spellingShingle Knaian, Ara N.
Gilpin, Kyle W
Rus, Daniela L
Robot pebbles: One centimeter modules for programmable matter through self-disassembly
title Robot pebbles: One centimeter modules for programmable matter through self-disassembly
title_full Robot pebbles: One centimeter modules for programmable matter through self-disassembly
title_fullStr Robot pebbles: One centimeter modules for programmable matter through self-disassembly
title_full_unstemmed Robot pebbles: One centimeter modules for programmable matter through self-disassembly
title_short Robot pebbles: One centimeter modules for programmable matter through self-disassembly
title_sort robot pebbles one centimeter modules for programmable matter through self disassembly
url http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/70987
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5473-3566
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9034-2340
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7336-6503
work_keys_str_mv AT knaianaran robotpebblesonecentimetermodulesforprogrammablematterthroughselfdisassembly
AT gilpinkylew robotpebblesonecentimetermodulesforprogrammablematterthroughselfdisassembly
AT rusdanielal robotpebblesonecentimetermodulesforprogrammablematterthroughselfdisassembly