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Continuum Mechanics for Coordinating Massive Microrobot Swarms: Self-Assembly Through Artificial Morphogenesis

Continuum Mechanics for Coordinating Massive Microrobot Swarms: Self-Assembly Through Artificial Morphogenesis

Bruce J. MacLennan
Copyright: © 2019 |Pages: 38
ISBN13: 9781522552765|ISBN10: 1522552766|ISBN13 Softcover: 9781522587637|EISBN13: 9781522552772
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-5276-5.ch004
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MLA

MacLennan, Bruce J. "Continuum Mechanics for Coordinating Massive Microrobot Swarms: Self-Assembly Through Artificial Morphogenesis." Novel Design and Applications of Robotics Technologies, edited by Dan Zhang and Bin Wei, IGI Global, 2019, pp. 96-133. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-5276-5.ch004

APA

MacLennan, B. J. (2019). Continuum Mechanics for Coordinating Massive Microrobot Swarms: Self-Assembly Through Artificial Morphogenesis. In D. Zhang & B. Wei (Eds.), Novel Design and Applications of Robotics Technologies (pp. 96-133). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-5276-5.ch004

Chicago

MacLennan, Bruce J. "Continuum Mechanics for Coordinating Massive Microrobot Swarms: Self-Assembly Through Artificial Morphogenesis." In Novel Design and Applications of Robotics Technologies, edited by Dan Zhang and Bin Wei, 96-133. Hershey, PA: IGI Global, 2019. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-5276-5.ch004

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Abstract

This chapter addresses the problem of coordinating the behavior of very large numbers of microrobots to assemble complex, hierarchically structured physical objects. The approach is patterned after morphogenetic processes during embryological development, in which masses of simple agents (cells) coordinate to produce complex three-dimensional structures. To ensure that the coordination mechanisms scale up to hundreds of thousands or millions of microrobots, the swarm is treated as a continuous mass using partial differential equations. A morphogenetic programming notation permits algorithms to be developed for coordinating dense masses of microrobots. The chapter presents algorithms and simulations for assembling segmented structures (artificial spines and legs) and for routing artificial neural fiber bundles. These algorithms scale over more than four orders of magnitude.

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