Linbots: Soft Modular Robots Utilizing Voice Coils

Area of Science:

• Robotics
• Collective Intelligence
• Soft Robotics

Background:

• Automated robots in uncontrolled environments require adaptive behaviors.
• Large robot collectives can exhibit emergent robustness and adaptability from simple rules.
• Scalability of robot collectives is often limited by the cost of individual units.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce Linbots, a novel soft modular robot designed for manufacturability.
• To demonstrate the capability of Linbot collectives to perform complex tasks in a scalable, distributed manner.
• To explore reconfiguration and adaptation of robot collectives for new tasks.

Main Methods:

• Designed Linbots with multifunctional voice coils for actuation, audio output, and touch sensing.
• Enabled Linbots to communicate with neighbors for isolated behavior and information propagation.
• Utilized collectives of Linbots to perform tasks through collective peristalsis and distributed sorting.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated complex task performance in a scalable, distributed manner using Linbot collectives.
• Showcased object transport via collective peristalsis.
• Successfully implemented object sorting using a two-dimensional Linbot array.

Conclusions:

• Linbots offer a manufacturable solution for creating large, adaptive robot collectives.
• Collective behavior in Linbots enables robust and scalable task execution.
• The modular and communicative nature of Linbots facilitates adaptation to new challenges.