The emerging field of passive macro-scale tile-based self-assembly (TBSA) shows promise in enabling effective manufacturing processes by harnessing TBSA's intrinsic parallelism. However, current TBSA methodologies still do not fulfill their potentials, largely because such assemblies are often prone to errors, and the size of an individual assembly is limited due to insufficient mechanical stability. Moreover, the instability issue worsens as assemblies grow in size. Using a novel type of magnetically-bonded tiles carried by bristle-bot drives, we propose here a framework that reverses this tendency; i.e., as an assembly grows, it becomes more stable. Stability is achieved by introducing two sets of tiles that move in opposite directions, thus zeroing the assembly net force. Using physics-based computational experiments, we compare the performance of the proposed approach with the common orbital shaking method, proving that the proposed system of tiles indeed possesses self-stabilizing characteristics. Our approach enables assemblies containing hundreds of tiles to be built, while the shaking approach is inherently limited to a few tens of tiles. Our results indicate that one of the primary limitations of mechanical, agitation-based TBSA approaches, instability, might be overcome by employing a swarm of free-running, sensorless mobile robots, herein represented by passive tiles at the macroscopic scale.
翻译:被动大型瓷砖自组(TBSA)的新兴领域显示,通过利用TBSA的内在平行作用,使有效的制造过程变得有希望。然而,目前的TBSA方法仍然不能发挥其潜力,这主要是因为这些组件往往容易出错,而单组体的大小因机械稳定性不足而受到限制。此外,随着组件的大小增长,不稳定问题会更加恶化。我们在此提议一个能够扭转这一趋势的框架,即随着组装的成长,它会变得更加稳定。通过引入两套反向移动的砖块来实现稳定,从而实现组装网的零力。我们使用物理计算实验,将拟议方法的性能与普通轨道摇动方法进行比较,证明拟议的瓷块系统确实具有自我稳定的特点。我们的方法使包含数百个瓷砖的组件能够建立起来,而摇动方法则必然限于数万个砖块。我们的结果显示,通过采用机械化的移动式传感器,通过移动式的移动式传感器,可以克服一个不稳定的移动式系统,通过移动式的机械式的机压缩规模。