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Previous work on self-reconfiguring modular robots has concentrated primarily on designing hardware and developing reconfiguration algorithms tied to specific hardware systems. In this paper, we introduce a generic model for lattice-based self-reconfigurable robots and present several generic locomotion algorithms that use this model. The algorithms presented here are inspired by cellular automata, using geometric rules to control module actions. The actuation model used is a general one, assuming only that modules can generally move over the surface of a group of modules. These algorithms can then be instantiated onto a variety of particular systems. Correctness proofs of many of the rule sets are also given for the generic geometry; this analysis can carry over to the instantiated algorithms to provide different systems with correct locomotion algorithms. We also present techniques for automated analysis that can be used for algorithms that are too complex to be easily analyzed by hand.

We assume that events of interest take place at discrete points in space and time within a given area. If those events come from a particular distribution, which can be arbitrarily complex, the sensors should move such that their positions will eventually approximate that distribution. In addition, we'd like to minimize the amount of necesMany sensor networks have far more units than necessary for simple coverage. Sensor mobility allows better coverage in areas where events occur frequently. The distributed schemes presented here use minimal communication and computation to provide this capability. PERVASIVE computing 37 40 PERVASIVE computing http://computer.org/pervasive 42 PERVASIVE computing