| Volume 27 Issue 3-4 - Publication Date: 1 March 2008 |
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| Automatic Modular Assembly System and its Distributed Control |
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| Yuzuru Terada and Satoshi Murata Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Science
and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology |
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| Construction is difficult to automate because of its complexity. Introducing
modularity into both structural components and a means
of assembly solves the problem by simplifying the construction task.
Based on this idea, we propose a novel concept of a fully automated
construction system called the Automatic Modular Assembly
System (AMAS). In this paper, we discuss the hardware system and
distributed control method of AMAS. This system uses passive building
blocks called “structure modules” and an assembler robot that is
specialized to handle them. This “modular” concept drastically simplifies
structural complexity. We have built a prototype model to evaluate
its automatic construction capability. Then we introduce a distributed
autonomous control for AMAS, which uses a gradient field to
indicate the directions to the assembler robots. The gradient field is
generated on the structure modules. To improve the efficiency, we introduce
collision avoidance rules such as module relay and local negotiation
via a blackboard. We also evaluate the overall performance
of the distributed control with simulations. |
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| Multimedia Key |
= Video |
 = Data |
= Code |
= Image |
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Extension |
Type |
Description |
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1 |
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Example
1: Motion of the connection mechanism. (1.45 MB) avi |
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2 |
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Example
2: Assembly task using the prototype
hardware. (2.06 MB) mpeg |
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3 |
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Example
3: Result of the simulation assembling
an L-shaped structure a using continuous
field. (4.19 MB) mpeg |
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4 |
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Example
4: Result of the simulation assembling
a T-shaped structure using a continuous
field. (3.53 MB) mpeg |
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5 |
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Example
5: Result of the simulation assembling
an L-shaped structure using a discrete
field with module relay. (5.53 MB) mpeg |
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6 |
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Example
6: Robust assembly with module removal. (1.62 MB) mpeg |
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7 |
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Example
7: Robust assembly with communication
breakdown. (2.06 MB) mpeg |
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8 |
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Example
8: Assembling a bridge using disassemble
and reassemble. (3.51 MB) mpeg |
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