self-reconfiguration algorithm

[maxime louvel]

Hi,

I am a master student and I follow a module called intelligent robotic.
We have a presentation to do about any research topic we want in robotic.
I have though to do my presentation about self-reconfiguring robot.
However, when I have told that to my teacher he said my I have to find some intelligent stuff to talk about.
Actually, most of the papers I have read about self-reconfiguring robot deal with the mechanical stuff.
But my teacher expect us to present some algorithms, talk at a higher level than the hardware problem.

So my question is :

Do you know if there is some research and so some papers dealing with this stuff ?

thanks,

--
Maxime Louvel
0044 7964 5555 80
43 Allen road
Whitemore reans
WV6OAW Wolverhampton
United Kingdom

[tom.lar...@gmail.com]

I can't give you all the links, but some of the names are:-
Melt-grow algorithm - one unit moves at a time, and the algorithm uses
an intermediate shape:-
http://www.mit.edu/~vona/publications/Rus_Vona__1999__Self-reconfiguration_Planning_with_Compressible_Unit_Modules.pdf

Pacman algorithm, improves melt-grow with parrallel movements, but can
get stuck in minima. No intermediate shape.

Hormone control for CONRO http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/login.jsp?url=/iel5/9887/31421/01461243.pdf.
This is parrallel but I think also suffers from local minima

Then for metamorphic an early work uses a simulated annealing with a
heuristic. I think the paper is called "useful similarity metrics for
a class of self-configuring robots" or something.

The M-TRAN robot, which is one of the best reconfiguring systems, has
difficulty planning. They have a software suite which allows them to
combine search with manual planning.

There is alot more to read out there but that should give you a start