Distributed Localization of Modular Robot Ensembles

@inproceedings{ashley-rollman-iclp09,
  author = {Ashley-Rollman, Michael P. and Lee, Peter and Goldstein,
     Seth Copen and Pillai, Padmanabhan and Campbell, Jason D.},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on Logic
     Programming (ICLP '09)},
  title = {A Language for Large Ensembles of Independently Executing
     Nodes},
  year = {2009},
  month = {Jul},
  keywords = {Distributed Systems, Meld, Programming Languages},
  url = {http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~claytronics/papers/ashley-rollman-iclp09.pdf},
  abstract = {We address how to write programs for distributed
     computing systems in which the network topology can change
     dynamically. Examples of such systems, which we call {\em
     ensembles}, include programmable sensor networks (where the
     network topology can change due to failures in the nodes or
     links) and modular robotics systems (whose physical configuration
     can be rearranged under program control). We extend Meld, a logic
     programming language that allows an ensemble to be viewed as a
     single computing system. In addition to proving some key
     properties of the language, we have also implemented a complete
     compiler for Meld. It generates code for TinyOS and for a
     Claytronics simulator. We have successfully written correct,
     efficient, and complex programs for ensembles containing over one
     million nodes.},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on Logic
     Programming (ICLP '09)},
}

@inproceedings{funiak-rss08,
  author = {Funiak, Stanislav and Pillai, Padmanabhan and
     Ashley-Rollman, Michael P. and Campbell, Jason D. and Goldstein,
     Seth Copen},
  title = {Distributed Localization of Modular Robot Ensembles},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of Robotics: Science and Systems},
  year = {2008},
  month = {Jun},
  abstract = {Internal localization, the problem of estimating
     relative pose for each module (part) of a modular robot is a
     prerequisite for many shape control, locomotion, and actuation
     algorithms. In this paper, we propose a robust hierarchical
     approach that uses normalized cut to identify dense subregions
     with small mutual localization error, then progressively merges
     those subregions to localize the entire ensemble. Our method
     works well in both 2D and 3D, and requires neither exact
     measurements nor rigid inter-module connectors. Most of the
     computations in our method can be effectively distributed. The
     result is a robust algorithm that scales to large,
     non-homogeneous ensembles. We evaluate our algorithm in accurate
     2D and 3D simulations of scenarios with up to 10,000 modules.},
  keywords = {Distributed Systems, Localization, Meld},
  url = {http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~claytronics/papers/funiak-rss2008.pdf},
  see = {funiak-ijrr09},
}

@inproceedings{derosa-rss06,
  author = {De~Rosa, Michael and Goldstein, Seth Copen and Lee, Peter
     and Campbell, Jason D. and Pillai, Padmanabhan},
  booktitle = {Robotics: Science and Systems Workshop on
     Self-Reconfigurable Modular Robots},
  title = {Distributed Watchpoints: Debugging Very Large Ensembles of
     Robots},
  month = {Aug},
  year = {2006},
  keywords = {Claytronics, Modular Robotics, Debugging, Distributed
     Systems},
  address = {Philadelphia, PA},
  talk = {http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~seth/papers/derosa-rss06.pdf},
  url = {http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~seth/papers/derosa-rss06.pdf},
  abstract = {We describe a debugging tool for modular robotics that
     introduces the concept of distributed watchpoint triggers. This
     technique can initiate debugging actions (system halt, global
     snapshot, logging, etc.) in an ensemble of robots based on
     temporal, physical, and logical conditions distributed over
     multiple robots. Our technique is specifically designed to be
     effective in debugging modular robotic ensembles, where many
     important types of failure conditions can be detected within
     small, physically connected subsets of the total ensemble.},
}

@inproceedings{ashley-rollman-iclp09,
  author = {Ashley-Rollman, Michael P. and Lee, Peter and Goldstein,
     Seth Copen and Pillai, Padmanabhan and Campbell, Jason D.},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on Logic
     Programming (ICLP '09)},
  title = {A Language for Large Ensembles of Independently Executing
     Nodes},
  year = {2009},
  month = {Jul},
  keywords = {Distributed Systems, Meld, Programming Languages},
  url = {http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~claytronics/papers/ashley-rollman-iclp09.pdf},
  abstract = {We address how to write programs for distributed
     computing systems in which the network topology can change
     dynamically. Examples of such systems, which we call {\em
     ensembles}, include programmable sensor networks (where the
     network topology can change due to failures in the nodes or
     links) and modular robotics systems (whose physical configuration
     can be rearranged under program control). We extend Meld, a logic
     programming language that allows an ensemble to be viewed as a
     single computing system. In addition to proving some key
     properties of the language, we have also implemented a complete
     compiler for Meld. It generates code for TinyOS and for a
     Claytronics simulator. We have successfully written correct,
     efficient, and complex programs for ensembles containing over one
     million nodes.},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on Logic
     Programming (ICLP '09)},
}

@inproceedings{funiak-rss08,
  author = {Funiak, Stanislav and Pillai, Padmanabhan and
     Ashley-Rollman, Michael P. and Campbell, Jason D. and Goldstein,
     Seth Copen},
  title = {Distributed Localization of Modular Robot Ensembles},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of Robotics: Science and Systems},
  year = {2008},
  month = {Jun},
  abstract = {Internal localization, the problem of estimating
     relative pose for each module (part) of a modular robot is a
     prerequisite for many shape control, locomotion, and actuation
     algorithms. In this paper, we propose a robust hierarchical
     approach that uses normalized cut to identify dense subregions
     with small mutual localization error, then progressively merges
     those subregions to localize the entire ensemble. Our method
     works well in both 2D and 3D, and requires neither exact
     measurements nor rigid inter-module connectors. Most of the
     computations in our method can be effectively distributed. The
     result is a robust algorithm that scales to large,
     non-homogeneous ensembles. We evaluate our algorithm in accurate
     2D and 3D simulations of scenarios with up to 10,000 modules.},
  keywords = {Distributed Systems, Localization, Meld},
  url = {http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~claytronics/papers/funiak-rss2008.pdf},
  see = {funiak-ijrr09},
}

@inproceedings{dewey-iros08,
  author = {Dewey, Daniel and Srinivasa, Siddhartha S. and
     Ashley-Rollman, Michael P. and De~Rosa, Michael and Pillai,
     Padmanabhan and Mowry, Todd C. and Campbell, Jason D. and
     Goldstein, Seth Copen},
  title = {Generalizing Metamodules to Simplify Planning in Modular
     Robotic Systems},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of IEEE/RSJ 2008 International Conference
     on Intelligent Robots and Systems {IROS '08}},
  year = {2008},
  address = {Nice, France},
  month = {Sep},
  abstract = {In this paper we develop a theory of metamodules and an
     associated distributed asynchronous planner which generalizes
     previous work on metamodules for lattice-based modular robotic
     systems. All extant modular robotic systems have some form of
     non-holonomic motion constraints. This has prompted many
     researchers to look to metamodules, i.e., groups of modules that
     act as a unit, as a way to reduce motion constraints and the
     complexity of planning. However, previous metamodule designs have
     been specific to a particular modular robot. 
By analyzing the
     constraints found in modular robotic systems we develop a
     holonomic metamodule which has two important properties: (1) it
     can be used as the basic unit of an efficient planner and (2) it
     can be instantiated by a wide variety of different underlying
     modular robots, e.g., modular robot arms, expanding cubes,
     hex-packed spheres, etc. Using a series of transformations we
     show that our practical metamodule system has a provably complete
     planner. Finally, our approach allows the task of shape
     transformation to be separated into a planning task and a
     resource allocation task. We implement our planner for two
     different metamodule systems and show that the time to completion
     scales linearly with the diameter of the ensemble.},
  url = {http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~claytronics/papers/dewey-iros08.pdf},
  keywords = {Meld, Planning, Multi-Robot Formations, Controlling
     Ensembles, Robotics},
}

@inproceedings{ashley-rollman-derosa-iros07wksp,
  author = {Ashley-Rollman, Michael P. and De~Rosa, Michael and
     Srinivasa, Siddhartha S. and Pillai, Padmanabhan and Goldstein,
     Seth Copen and Campbell, Jason D.},
  title = {Declarative Programming for Modular Robots},
  booktitle = {Workshop on Self-Reconfigurable Robots/Systems and
     Applications at {IROS '07}},
  year = {2007},
  month = {Oct},
  keywords = {Claytronics, Programming Models, Planning, LDP, Meld},
  abstract = {Because of the timing, complexity, and asynchronicity
     challenges common in modular robot software we have recently
     begun to explore new programming models for modular robot
     ensembles. In this paper we apply two of those models to a
     metamodule-based shape planning algorithm and comment on the
     differences between the two approaches. Our results suggest that
     declarative programming can provide several advantages over more
     traditional imperative approaches, and that the differences
     between declarative programming styles can themselves contribute
     leverage to different parts of the problem domain.},
  url = {http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~claytronics/papers/ashley-rollman-derosa-iros07wksp.pdf},
}

@inproceedings{ashley-rollman-iros07,
  author = {Ashley-Rollman, Michael P. and Goldstein, Seth Copen and
     Lee, Peter and Mowry, Todd C. and Pillai, Padmanabhan},
  title = {Meld: A Declarative Approach to Programming Ensembles},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on
     Intelligent Robots and Systems ({IROS '07})},
  year = {2007},
  month = {Oct},
  keywords = {Claytronics, Programming Languages, Meld},
  abstract = {This paper presents Meld, a programming language for
     modular robots, i.e., for independently executing robots where
     inter-robot communication is limited to immediate neighbors. Meld
     is a declarative language, based on P2, a logic-programming
     language originally designed for programming overlay networks. By
     using logic programming, the code for an ensemble of robots can
     be written from a global perspective, as opposed to a large
     collection of independent robot views. This greatly simplifies
     the thought process needed for programming large ensembles.
     Initial experience shows that this also leads to a considerable
     reduction in code size and complexity. An initial implementation
     of Meld has been completed and has been used to demonstrate its
     effectiveness in the Claytronics simulator. Early results
     indicate that Meld programs are considerably more concise (more
     than 20x shorter) than programs written in C++, while running
     nearly as efficiently.},
  url = {http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~claytronics/papers/ashley-rollman-iros07.pdf},
}

@inproceedings{funiak-rss08,
  author = {Funiak, Stanislav and Pillai, Padmanabhan and
     Ashley-Rollman, Michael P. and Campbell, Jason D. and Goldstein,
     Seth Copen},
  title = {Distributed Localization of Modular Robot Ensembles},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of Robotics: Science and Systems},
  year = {2008},
  month = {Jun},
  abstract = {Internal localization, the problem of estimating
     relative pose for each module (part) of a modular robot is a
     prerequisite for many shape control, locomotion, and actuation
     algorithms. In this paper, we propose a robust hierarchical
     approach that uses normalized cut to identify dense subregions
     with small mutual localization error, then progressively merges
     those subregions to localize the entire ensemble. Our method
     works well in both 2D and 3D, and requires neither exact
     measurements nor rigid inter-module connectors. Most of the
     computations in our method can be effectively distributed. The
     result is a robust algorithm that scales to large,
     non-homogeneous ensembles. We evaluate our algorithm in accurate
     2D and 3D simulations of scenarios with up to 10,000 modules.},
  keywords = {Distributed Systems, Localization, Meld},
  url = {http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~claytronics/papers/funiak-rss2008.pdf},
  see = {funiak-ijrr09},
}

@inproceedings{funiak-iros07,
  author = {Funiak, Stanislav and Pillai, Padmanabhan and Campbell,
     Jason D. and Goldstein, Seth Copen},
  title = {Internal Localization of Modular Robot Ensembles},
  booktitle = {Workshop on Self-Reconfiguring Modular Robotics at the
     IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems
     (IROS) '07},
  year = {2007},
  month = {Oct},
  abstract = {The determination of the relative position and pose of
     every robot in a modular robotic ensemble is a necessary
     preliminary step for most modular robotic tasks. Localization is
     particularly important when the modules make local noisy
     observations and are not significantly constrained by inter-robot
     latches. In this paper, we propose a robust hierarchical approach
     to the {\em internal localization} problem that uses normalized
     cut to identify subproblems with small localization error. A key
     component of our solution is a simple method to reduce the cost
     of normalized cut computations. The result is a robust algorithm
     that scales to large, non-homogeneous ensembles. We evaluate our
     algorithm in simulation on ensembles of up to 10,000 modules,
     demonstrating substantial improvements over prior work.},
  keywords = {Claytronics, Probabilistic Inference, Sensing,
     Localization, Distributed Algorithms},
  url = {http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~claytronics/papers/funiak-iros07.pdf},
}