Hormone-Inspired Adaptive Communication and Distributed Control for CONRO Self-Reconfigurable Robots

Wei-Min Shen, Behnam Salemi, and Peter Will. Hormone-Inspired Adaptive Communication and Distributed Control for CONRO Self-Reconfigurable Robots. IEEE Trans. on Robotics and Automation, 18(5):700–712, October 2002.

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Abstract

Presents a biologically inspired approach to two basic problems in modular self-reconfigurable robots: adaptive communication in self-reconfigurable and dynamic networks, and distributed collaboration between the physically coupled modules to accomplish global effects such as locomotion and reconfiguration. Inspired by the biological concept of hormone, the paper develops the adaptive communication (AC) protocol that enables modules continuously to discover changes in their local topology, and the adaptive distributed control (ADC) protocol that allows modules to use hormone-like messages in collaborating their actions to accomplish locomotion and self-reconfiguration. These protocols are implemented and evaluated, and experiments in the CONRO self-reconfigurable robot and in a Newtonian simulation environment have shown that the protocols are robust and scaleable when configurations change dynamically and unexpectedly, and they can support online reconfiguration, module-level behavior shifting, and locomotion. The paper also discusses the implication of the hormone-inspired approach for distributed multiple robots and self-reconfigurable systems in general.

BibTeX Entry

@Article{	  shen2002hormone-inspired-adaptive-communication-and-distributed,
  abstract	= {Presents a biologically inspired approach to two basic
		  problems in modular self-reconfigurable robots: adaptive
		  communication in self-reconfigurable and dynamic networks,
		  and distributed collaboration between the physically
		  coupled modules to accomplish global effects such as
		  locomotion and reconfiguration. Inspired by the biological
		  concept of hormone, the paper develops the adaptive
		  communication (AC) protocol that enables modules
		  continuously to discover changes in their local topology,
		  and the adaptive distributed control (ADC) protocol that
		  allows modules to use hormone-like messages in
		  collaborating their actions to accomplish locomotion and
		  self-reconfiguration. These protocols are implemented and
		  evaluated, and experiments in the CONRO self-reconfigurable
		  robot and in a Newtonian simulation environment have shown
		  that the protocols are robust and scaleable when
		  configurations change dynamically and unexpectedly, and
		  they can support online reconfiguration, module-level
		  behavior shifting, and locomotion. The paper also discusses
		  the implication of the hormone-inspired approach for
		  distributed multiple robots and self-reconfigurable systems
		  in general.},
  author	= {Wei-Min Shen and Behnam Salemi and Peter Will},
  journal	= tra,
  month		= oct,
  number	= {5},
  pages		= {700--712},
  title		= {Hormone-Inspired Adaptive Communication and Distributed
		  Control for {CONRO} Self-Reconfigurable Robots},
  volume	= {18},
  year		= {2002}
}