Uploaded May 2018 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
ICRA 2018 Spotlight Video
Interactive Session Thu PM Pod D.7
Authors: Swissler, Petras; Rubenstein, Michael
Title: FireAnt: A Modular Robot with Full-Body Continuous Docks
Abstract:
Nature offers many examples of organisms coming together to form self-assembling structures. The attachment methods these organisms employ allow them to grab onto others bodies, often without need for specific alignment or orientation, an ability absent from most existing robotic self-assembling structures, which require complicated sensing and specific alignment. This paper presents FireAnt, a modular 2D robot that demonstrates full-body continuous docks, an attachment mechanism able to attach anywhere onto other robots at any orientation, eliminating the need for alignment mechanisms and complex sensors. Such docks allow FireAnt to climb over copies of itself, something critical to self-assembling structures. This paper first discusses the design of FireAnt before presenting test results that show the strength and reliability of the continuous docks and demonstrate FireAnts ability to traverse an environment consisting of inert FireAnt robots. The work presented in this paper provides a docking mechanism that can minimize the mechanical complexity of modular robots and will allow the creation of swarms of rigid and adaptable self-assembling structures.
ICRA 2018 Spotlight Video
Interactive Session Thu PM Pod D.7
Authors: Swissler, Petras; Rubenstein, Michael
Title: FireAnt: A Modular Robot with Full-Body Continuous Docks
Abstract:
Nature offers many examples of organisms coming together to form self-assembling structures. The attachment methods these organisms employ allow them to grab onto others bodies, often without need for specific alignment or orientation, an ability absent from most existing robotic self-assembling structures, which require complicated sensing and specific alignment. This paper presents FireAnt, a modular 2D robot that demonstrates full-body continuous docks, an attachment mechanism able to attach anywhere onto other robots at any orientation, eliminating the need for alignment mechanisms and complex sensors. Such docks allow FireAnt to climb over copies of itself, something critical to self-assembling structures. This paper first discusses the design of FireAnt before presenting test results that show the strength and reliability of the continuous docks and demonstrate FireAnts ability to traverse an environment consisting of inert FireAnt robots. The work presented in this paper provides a docking mechanism that can minimize the mechanical complexity of modular robots and will allow the creation of swarms of rigid and adaptable self-assembling structures.
