Skip to main content
Log in

Self-Repairing Mechanical Systems

  • Published:
Autonomous Robots Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper reviews several types of self-repairing systems developed in the Mechanical Engineering Laboratory. We have developed a modular system capable of “self-assembly” and “self-repair.” The former means a set of units can form a given shape of the system without outside help; the latter means the system restores the original shape if an arbitrary part of the system is cut off. We show both two-dimensional and three-dimensional unit designs, and distributed algorithms for the units.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Chen, I. and Burdick, J. 1998. Enumerating the non isomorphic assembly configurations of a modular robotics system. Intl. J. Robotics Research, 17(7):702–719.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chirikjian, G. and Burdick, J. 1995. Kinematically optimal hyperredundants manipulator configurations. IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation, 11(6):794–806.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chrikjian, G., Pamecha, A., and Ebert-Uphoff, I. 1996. Evaluating efficiency of self-reconfiguration in a class of modular robots. J. Robotic Systems, 13(5):317–338.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fukuda, T. and Kawauchi,Y. 1990. Cellular robotic system (CEBOT) as one of the realization of self-organizing intelligent universal manipulator. In Proc. IEEE Intl. Conf. Robotics and Automation, pp. 662–667.

  • Hamlin, G. and Sanderson, A.C. 1998. Tetrobot; A Modular Approach to Reconfigurable Parallel Robotics, Kluwer. Academic Publishers: Boston.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ichikawa, Y. 1992. One-dimensional self-reproducing machine. Trans. Robotics Society of Japan, 10(2):266–272. (in Japanese).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kokaji, S. 1988. A fractal mechanism and a decentralized control method. In Proc. USA-Japan Symp. Flexible Automation, pp. 1129–1134.

  • Kokaji, S., Murata, S., Kurokawa, H., and Tomita, K. 1996. Clock synchronization algorithm for a distributed autonomous system. J. Robotics and Mechatronics, 8(5):427–434.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kotay, K., Rus, D., Vona, M., and McGray, C. 1998. The Selfreconfigurable robotic molecule. In Proc. IEEE Intl. Conf. Robotics and Automation, pp. 424–431.

  • Kotay, K. and Rus, D. 1999. Locomotion versatility through selfreconfiguration. Robotics and Autonomous Systems, 26:217–232.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kurokawa, H., Murata, S., Yoshida, E., Tomita, K., and Kokaji, S. 1998. A 3-D self-reconfigurable structure and experiment. In Proc. IEEE/RSJ Intl. Conf. Intelligent Robotics and Systems, pp. 860–859.

  • Murata, S., Kurokawa, H., and Kokaji, S. 1994. Self-assembling machine. In Proc. of IEEE Intl. Conf. Robotics and Automation, pp. 441–448.

  • Murata, S., Kurokawa, H., Yoshida, E., Tomita, K., and Kokaji, S. 1998. A 3-D self-reconfigurable structure. In Proc. IEEE Intl. Conf. Robotics and Automation, pp. 432–439.

  • Pamecha, A., Ebert-Uphoff, I., and Chirikjian, G.S. 1997. Useful metrics for modular robot motion planning. IEEE Trans. Robotics and Automation, 13(4):531–545.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rus, D. and Vona, M. 1999. Self-reconfiguration planning with compressible unit modules. In Proc. IEEE Intl. Conf. Robotics and Automation, pp. 2513–2519.

  • Sakao, T., Kondor, S., Umeda, Y., and Tomiyama, T. The development of a cellular automatic warehouse. In Proc. IEEE/RSJ Intl. Conf. on Intelligent Robots and Systems, pp. 324–331.

  • Takata, S. 1991. Self-diagnosis and self-repair. J. Japan Society for Precision Engineering, 57(12):43–46. (in Japanese).

    Google Scholar 

  • Tomita, K., Murata, S., Kurokawa, H., Yoshida, E., and Kokaji, S. 1996. Reconfiguration method for a distributed mechanical system. In Distributed Autonomous Robotic System 2 Asama et al. (Eds.), Springer-Verlag: Tokyo, pp. 17–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • von Neumann, J. 1966. Theory of self-reproducing automata. Univ. Illinois Press: Urbana, IL.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yim, M. 1994. New locomotion gaits. In Proc. IEEE Intl. Conf. Robotics and Automation, pp. 2508–2524.

  • Yoshida, E., Murata, S., Kurokawa, H., Tomita, K., and Kokaji, S. 1998. A distributed reconfiguration method for 3-D homogeneous structure. In Proc. IEEE/RSJ Intl. Conf. Intelligent Robotics and Systems, pp. 852–865.

  • Yoshida, E., Murata, S., Tomita, K., Kurokawa, H., and Kokaji, S. 1997. Distributed formation control for a modular mechanical system. In Proc. IEEE/RSJ Intl. Conf. Intelligent Robots and Systems, pp. 1090–1097.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Murata, S., Yoshida, E., Kurokawa, H. et al. Self-Repairing Mechanical Systems. Autonomous Robots 10, 7–21 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026540318188

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026540318188

Navigation