Self-Reconfigurable Robots for Collaborative Discrete Lattice Assembly

We present a robotic system for the assembly of 3D discrete lattice structures in which the robots are able to self-reproduce, such that the assembly system may scale its own parallelization. Robots and structures are made from a set of compatible building blocks, or voxels, which can be assembled and reassembled into more complex structures. Robotic modules are made by combining actuators with a functional voxel, which routes electrical power and signals. Robotic modules then assemble into reconfigurable robots via a reversible solder joint. The robot assembles higher performance structures using a set of construction voxels, which do not contain electrical features. This paper describes the design, development, and evaluation of this assembly system, includ- ing the robotic hardware, lattice material, and planning and controls methods. We demonstrate the system through a set of fundamental assembly tasks: the robot assembling another robot, and the two robots collaborating to assemble a small structure.