https://members.femto-st.fr/julien-bourgeois
https://www.programmable-matter.com
Technological advances, especially in the miniaturization of robotic devices foreshadow the emergence of large-scale ensembles of small-size resource-constrained robots that distributively cooperate to achieve complex tasks. These ensembles are formed by independent, intelligent, and communicating units which act as a whole forming a programmable material i.e., a material able to autonomously change its shape.
In my talk, I will present our research effort in building a modular robot composed of mm-scale units. We use micro-technology to scale down the size of each element, and we study geometry, structure, actuation, power, electronics, and integration. We develop multi-agent algorithms to scale up in the number of managed robots to perform synchronization, leader election, self-assembly and self-reconfiguration. As multi-agent systems are by essence decentralized, they are the best candidate to manage these distributed robotic systems.