Satoshi Murata

Self-Repairing Mechanical Systems

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.

Self Organization of a Mechanical System

A design method is discussed for a mechanical system which is composed of homogeneous units. Two examples of the system, Fractal Machine and Fractum Machine are introduced. Fractal Machine is composed of variable length links and it can move on a plane. When it is decomposed into several subsystems, each subsystem still hold the capability to move as each of subsystems reorganizes itself. Fractum Machine is composed of units which can change their connection autonomously. It can change its form to construct a target configuration, starting from a random pattern at the beginning. A general scheme for designing this type of mechanical system is discussed and the idea of micro-rules and a global index is proposed.

Development of a self-reconfigurable modular robotic system

We present a novel type of modular robotic system that has a capability of both autonomous shape reconfiguration and robotic motion generation. We have developed hardware modules and examined basic mechanical functions and reconfiguration. A simulation system of the modular robotic system has also been developed to design the reconfiguration sequence and motion for a cluster of modules.