Assembly Order Planning for Modular Structures by Autonomous Multi-Robot Systems

Abstract

Coordinated multi-agent robotic construction provides a means to build infrastructure in extreme environments and improve efficiency in high performance applications. Planning methods are key to understanding and achieving the scope of such applications, and are typically tailored to specific models of construction material and a consideration of passivity or activity thereof. Here, we focus on the NASA Automated Reconfigurable Mission Adaptive Digital Assembly Systems (ARMADAS) model, which includes passive lightweight structural modules and small robots that traverse the structure. We present an algorithm for calculating a build plan for robots under the constraints of this type of system. We then evaluate the quality of this plan experimentally. Many of the techniques we use can be applied to any robotic assembly system whose robots perform locomotion over the structure that they are building.