A Distributed Algorithm for Reconfiguration of Lattice-based Modular Self-Reconfigurable Robots

A modular robots is composed of many independent connected modules which are able to achieve common goals through communications. A modular self-reconfigurable robot can move and reorganize its modules to modify its shape. In this paper, we consider a modular self-reconfigurable robot made from cubic modules (blocks) that are able to slide along their faces. Sliding motions imply complex cooperations, for example, crossing an angle needs at least three synchronized blocks. Based on this kind of hardware, we propose a distributed rule-based algorithm which plans and moves the blocks to reach a final configuration. We propose the use of motion rules that drastically simplify the complexity of the sliding movements and we define a special kind of metamodule to fasten the reconfiguration. We evaluate our algorithm in a simulator in order to study its behavior in the case of large modular robots composed of more than 10,000 modules. We test its robustness with more than 120 different kinds reconfigurations scenarii, representing more than 338 millions of movements for the blocks without any problem.