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News Release 04-121
Proving That Shape-Shifting Robots Can Get a Move On
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Nine Crystal robot modules developed in the Dartmouth Robotics Lab form a 2-D self-reconfigurable modular robot system composed of atoms. Each atom is a square that moves by expanding and contracting by a factor of two in each dimension.
Credit: Robert Fitch, Dartmouth College
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This simulation shows a lattice robot -- a 5 x 5 x 5 cube of modules -- crossing a bumpy surface by using a set of only eight rules. Each of the five colored "slices" is independently running the rule set.
Credit: Keith Kotay, Dartmouth College
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This simulation implements a set of about a dozen rules that allow a lattice robot to "duck" into a tunnel and then crawl through it.
Credit: Zack Butler, Dartmouth College
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A set of 18 rules tells this simulated lattice robot how to travel over rough terrain, turn and continue traveling in the new direction.
Credit: Zack Butler, Dartmouth College