On the Use of Sensors in Self-Reconfigurable Robots

Kasper Støy, Wei-Min Shen, and Peter Will. On the Use of Sensors in Self-Reconfigurable Robots. In Proc. 7th Intl. Conf. on Simulation of Adaptive Behavior (SAB02), pp. 48–57, Edinburgh, UK, August 2002.

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Abstract

In this paper we investigate the use of sensors in self-reconfigurable robots. We review several physically realized self-reconfigurable robots and conclude that little attention has been paid to the use of sensors. This is unfortunate since sensors can provide essential feedback that can be used to guide self-reconfiguration and control. In the systems that do use sensor feedback, the feedback is used locally on each module. However we identify a need in some situations to use sensor feedback globally. We therefore propose an approach where raw sensor values are abstracted and propagated to all modules. The sensor values are abstracted differently depending on the position of the producing sensor on the robot. We combine this approach with role based control, a control method for self-reconfigurable robots that we have developed earlier. We demonstrate that by combing these two approaches it is possible to make a self-reconfigurable robot consisting of six modules walk and avoid obstacles. However the reaction time of the robot is slow and therefore we discus possible ways of reducing the reaction time.

BibTeX Entry

@InProceedings{	  stoy2002on-the-use-of-sensors-in-self-reconfigurable-robots,
  abstract	= {In this paper we investigate the use of sensors in
		  self-reconfigurable robots. We review several physically
		  realized self-reconfigurable robots and conclude that
		  little attention has been paid to the use of sensors. This
		  is unfortunate since sensors can provide essential feedback
		  that can be used to guide self-reconfiguration and control.
		  In the systems that do use sensor feedback, the feedback is
		  used locally on each module. However we identify a need in
		  some situations to use sensor feedback globally. We
		  therefore propose an approach where raw sensor values are
		  abstracted and propagated to all modules. The sensor values
		  are abstracted differently depending on the position of the
		  producing sensor on the robot. We combine this approach
		  with role based control, a control method for
		  self-reconfigurable robots that we have developed earlier.
		  We demonstrate that by combing these two approaches it is
		  possible to make a self-reconfigurable robot consisting of
		  six modules walk and avoid obstacles. However the reaction
		  time of the robot is slow and therefore we discus possible
		  ways of reducing the reaction time.},
  address	= {Edinburgh, UK},
  author	= {Kasper St{\o}y and Wei-Min Shen and Peter Will},
  booktitle	= {Proc.\ 7th Intl.\ Conf.\ on Simulation of Adaptive
		  Behavior (SAB02)},
  month		= aug,
  pages		= {48--57},
  title		= {On the Use of Sensors in Self-Reconfigurable Robots},
  year		= {2002}
}