Jad BASSIL : " Distributed clustering and self-reconfiguration for programmable material based on modular robots"

Abstract : Programmable matter can be used to create objects that can be programmed to change shape and physical properties on demand. One of the ways to implement programmable matter is to build it as a self-reconfigurable modular robot made up of a large set of simple micro-robots attached to each other. These micro-robots are able to communicate with their directly connected neighboring modules and modify the interconnections to change the overall shape of the robot. This thesis addresses the challenge of self-reconfiguration in modular robotic systems, which involves autonomously rearranging modules to achieve a desired goal shape. The self-reconfiguration problem is difficult due to the very high number of possible configurations, which increases exponentially with the number of modules. In this thesis, we argue that fast self-reconfiguration algorithms for large-scale modular robots can be achieved by clustering the modules. A distributed size-constrained algorithm is presented to form clusters of predefined sizes, along with a novel porous structure composed of two-
state meta-modules placed in a regular lattice. This porous structure allows concurrent module flow within it. In addition, two self-reconfiguration algorithms that can be applied on the proposed structure are introduced. The thesis also presents a distributed shape recognition algorithm to detect the current shape of the ensemble. To validate the proposed algorithms, simulations are performed to demonstrate their efficiency in achieving their objective.

Jury composition :

Abdallah MAKHOUL Professeur Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, PhD Director

Olivier SIMONIN Professeur INSA de Lyon, Telecom. Dept., Université de Lyon, France,  Reporter

Alcherio MARTINOLI, Associate Professor EPFL ENAC IIE DISAL Reporter

Mme Nathalie MITTON, Directeur de recherche Inria Lille-Nord Europe / FUN Reviewer

Julien BOURGEOIS Professeur Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté Reviewer

Benoît PIRANDA Associate Professor Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté PhD Co-director,

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