Researchers let modular robot cubes form structures for simple tasks
Computer scientists at MIT have managed to get hordes of tiny robot cubes to communicate with each other so that they can collectively take on all kinds of shapes. Ultimately, this can lead to the robots being able to perform complex tasks.
The scientists at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory say it’s a challenge to give such robots a sort of “beehive-like” brain with such joint coordination. In an effort to overcome that hurdle, the researchers have created self-assembled robot cubes that can climb over each other, jump through the air, roll across the floor and link together.
The researchers describe that the robots use a barcode-like system on each side of a cube to communicate with each other, so that the individual cubes can identify each other. Other techniques for communication have been considered, such as radio signals or infrared light, but have encountered too many objections, such as interference.
Each of the so-called M-Blocks contains an internal flywheel that makes twenty thousand revolutions per minute, which creates an angular momentum when the flywheel is decelerated. That causes the cube to move; each cube can move completely independently. Magnets on each corner and side of the robot cubes allow them to bond together and form a structure. Building the electronics was also a challenge, because the cubes are very small.
One of the researchers developed the algorithms to make the robots perform simple tasks, which led to the idea of using a barcode system so that the robots can ‘feel’ what the identity of a connected robot is and which side is connected. Among other things, an experiment was conducted to have the robots form a line from an arbitrary structure to see whether the modules could figure out the specific way in which they were connected to each other. In the end, ninety percent of the M-Blocks proved successful in this.
The researchers report that an autonomous “fleet” of sixteen cubes can now perform simple tasks, such as forming a line, following arrows or mapping light. Ultimately, the researchers want more and more robots to work together, so that more varied structures can be made. Ultimately, they think of applications in, for example, disaster relief. For example, if a building has partially collapsed and a staircase has disappeared, the cubes could theoretically be thrown on the floor after which they themselves form a temporary staircase, so that rescuers can easily reach a higher floor.
The research, which has been running for more than six years, was partly funded by the National Science Foundation and Amazon Robotics.