Fluid-Mediated Programmable Self-Assembling of Robotic Modules

Programmable self-assembly of miniature robotic modules provides a promising means for realizing programmable matter. This project is focused on programmable stochastic self-assembly of robotic modules in an aquatic environment. The project is basically divided into two main research thrusts: (i) a technological research thrust concerned with the design, the fabrication, and the packaging of the experimental platform, and (ii) a theoretical research thrust concerned with the development of distributed, stochastic control schemes supported by a flexible modeling framework. Such a modeling framework shall enable to predict and optimize the dynamics of the proposed distributed robotic platform as a function of a large variety of design and control parameters, therefore strongly linking the two research thrusts.

The expected outcomes of this project are two-fold. First, our research consolidates and improve the design of centimeter-sized distributed robotic platforms based on mechatronic technology. Second, we aim at updating and extending state-of-the-art methodologies for designing, modeling, and controlling massively distributed, stochastic robotic systems. This project is definitely oriented towards basic research: even though it aims at delivering concrete demonstrators, it does not yet target any specific application.d confined in 2D.

Building the Lily Robotic Module

Placing the electro-permanent latches

Folding the flexible PCB

Placing inside the 3D-printed shell

Team and Collaborators

Sponsors and Research Period

This project was sponsored by an SNSF grant

Videos

Publications

2019

Lightweight physics-based models for the control of fluid-mediated self-assembly of robotic modules

B. Haghighat; H. Khodr; A. Martinoli 

Robotics And Autonomous Systems. 2019-11-01. Vol. 121, p. 103241. DOI : 10.1016/j.robot.2019.07.011.

Design and Calibration of a Lightweight Physics-Based Model for Fluid-Mediated Self-Assembly of Robotic Modules

B. Haghighat; H. Khodr; A. Martinoli 

2019. 14th International Symposium on Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems (DARS), Boulder, Colorado, USA, October 15-17, 2018. p. 197-210. DOI : 10.1007/978-3-030-05816-6_14.

A Rule Synthesis Algorithm for Programmable Stochastic Self-Assembly of Robotic Modules

B. Haghighat; A. Martinoli 

2019. 13th International Symposium on Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems (DARS), London, ENGLAND, Nov 07-09, 2016. DOI : 10.1007/978-3-319-73008-0_23.

2018

Design, Modeling, and Control Methods for Fluid-Mediated Programmable Self-Assembly of Resource-Constrained Robotic Modules

B. Haghighat / A. Martinoli (Dir.)  

Lausanne, EPFL, 2018. 

2017

Automatic synthesis of rulesets for programmable stochastic self-assembly of rotationally symmetric robotic modules

B. Haghighat; A. Martinoli 

Swarm Intelligence. 2017. Vol. 11, num. 3-4, p. 243-270. DOI : 10.1007/s11721-017-0139-4.

Probabilistic Modeling of Programmable Stochastic Self-Assembly of Robotic Modules

B. Haghighat; R. Thandiackal; M. Mordig; A. Martinoli 

2017. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Vancouver, Canada, September 24–28, 2017. p. 4656-5663. DOI : 10.1109/IROS.2017.8206337.

2016

Fluid-Mediated Stochastic Self-Assembly at Centimetric and Sub-Millimetric Scales: Design, Modeling, and Control

B. Haghighat; M. Mastrangeli; G. Mermoud; F. S. Schill; A. Martinoli 

Micromachines. 2016. Vol. 7, num. 8 (Special Issue on “Building by Self-Assembly”), p. 138. DOI : 10.3390/mi7080138.

Characterization and Validation of a Novel Robotic System for Fluid-Mediated Programmable Stochastic Self-Assembly

B. Haghighat; A. Martinoli 

2016. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Daejeon, Korea, October 9-14, 2016. p. 2778-2783. DOI : 10.1109/IROS.2016.7759431.

Synthesizing Rulesets for Programmable Robotic Self-Assembly: A Case Study using Floating Miniaturized Robots

B. Haghighat; B. Platerrier; L. Waegeli; A. Martinoli 

2016. International Conference on Swarm Intelligence, Brussels, Belgium, September, 2016. p. 197–209. DOI : 10.1007/978-3-319-44427-7_17.

2015

Lily: A Miniature Floating Robotic Platform for Programmable Stochastic Self-Assembly

B. Haghighat; E. Droz; A. Martinoli 

2015. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Seattle, Washington, USA, 2015. DOI : 10.1109/ICRA.2015.7139452.