Selbstmontierender Roboter

Tribolon: Scalable Self-Assembly Robot (SSAR)

www.tribolon.com

(since 2005, Swiss National Science Foundation Project, #200021-105634/1)

Keywords: Self-assembly robot, Artificial "living" system, Autonomous-decentralized system, Morphology

The mystery of life
Life is one of the biggest unsolved mysteries in modern science.
In nature, living organisms consists of DNA and large number of
organic molecules are able to form an organism by an intricate web
of molecular interactions.
As each molecule behaves following the causal rules in its rocal environment,
the process relies on autonomous and distributed process without any
centralized control.

Self-Assembly
Self-assembly is a process through which an organized structure spontaneously
forms from simple parts. This process is ubiquitous in nature, and its amazing
power is documented by many fascinating instances operating at various spatial
scales.

Despite its crucial importance, little is known about the mechanisms
underlying self-assembly and not much effort has been devoted to abstract
higher level design principles.

Taking inspiration from biological examples of self-assembly, we designed and
built a series of modular robotic systems consisting of cm size autonomous
plastic tiles capable of aggregation on the surface of water. Download