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RAJEEV GANDHI MEMORIAL COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING &TECHNOLOGY
(AUTONOMOUS)
(Affiliated to JNTU Anantapur)
APPROVED BY A.I.C.T.E., NEW DELHI, ACCREDITED BY N.B.A, NEWDELHI,
NANDYAL-518501, (Estd-1995)
ARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING
TIFICATE
This is to certify that the Dissertation entitledCLAYTRONICS PROGRMABBLE MATTER, a Technical Report that
mitted byM.BHARATHI (09091a0419)forpartial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of B.Tech in ELECTRON
MUNICATION ENGINEERINGin theRAJEEV GANDHI MEMORIAL COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY, Nandyal (A
N.T University Anantapur) is a bonafide record of confide work carried out by her under the guidance and supervision.
The results embodied in this thesis have not been submitted to any other university or institute for the award
ee.
Head of the Department Internal guide
Mr. Dr. D. SATHYA NARAYANA Mr. NAGARAJ KUMAR
Head of the Dept of ECE, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
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AA TTEECCHHNNIICCAALL RREEPPOORRTT OONN
CCLLAAYYTTRROONNIICCSS PPRROOGGRRAAMMMMAABBLLEE MMAATTTTEERR
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
For the award of the degree of
BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY
IN
ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING
BY
M.BHARATHI(09091A0419)
BATCH: 2009-2013
Under the esteemed guidance of
Mr. M.SATHYA NARAYANA
(Head of the dept ECE)
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING
JEEV GANDHI MEMORIAL COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY
(AUTONOMOUS)
(Affiliated to JNTU Anantapur)
APPROVED BY A.I.C.T.E., NEW DELHI, ACCREDITED BY N.B.A, NEWDELHI
NANDYAL-518501, (Estd-1995)
GMCET, NANDYAL. RGMCET, NANDYAL.
ce : Nandyal
aminer:
e:
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We would be failing in our duties if we do not express our sincere gratitude to our guide & supervisor, internal gu
GARAJ KUMAR Associate Professor of (ECE), for the guidance and assistance to us, which contribute to su
pletion of this technical seminar.
Our special thanks to Mr. Dr .D. SATHYA NARAYANA Head of the dept of (ECE), Rajeev G
morial College of Engineering & Technology, for providing all the facilities and guidelines, required
emic pursuit.
Our special thanks to Dr. T. JAYACHANDRA PRASAD, Principal, Rajeev Gandhi Memorial Coll
gineering & Technology, for providing all the necessary facilities, required for our academic pursuit.
At the outset, we would like to express our sincere and grateful thanks to the management of Rajeev G
morial College of Engineering & Technology, under the leadership ofDr. M. SANTHIRAMUDU, Chair
iding us an opportunity to fulfill our aspirations.
M.BHARATHI
09091A0419
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CLAYTRONICS PROGRAMABLE MATTER
ABSTRACT
This report introduces a new and yet to be properly explored branch of technology, The Programmable
Matter. Programmable Matter is a technology that enable us to control and manipulate 3dimensiona
physical artifacts. It is a methodwhich brings the dream ofsynthetic realitycloser to reality. Claytronics is
an abstract future concept that combines nanoscale robotics and computerscience to create individual
nanometre-scale computers called claytronic atoms, or catoms, which can interact with each other to form
tangible 3-D objects that a user can interact with.
This technology hasreached a point where we can realistically build a programmable matter systemwhich
is guided by design principles which will allow it to ultimately scale to millions of submillimeter catoms.
The system, which follows the principles of a programmable matter, is Claytronics. Claytronics substantiate
the ambition promisedby phenomena of programmable matter. It is used to create dynamic 3 dimensional
objects in physical state. This work is potentially revolutionary in the sense that it holds out the possibility
of radically altering the relationship between computation, humans, and the physical world. This paper
also introduces thehardware and software components of the Catoms, the crucial part of the claytronics
system, along with their challenges and requirement. We also present a novel application of modular
robotic technology. We describe an application a 3D fax machine, which exploits intermodule
communication and computationwithout requiring selfreconfiguration. As a result, this application may
be feasible sooner than applications which depend upon modules being able to movethemselves.
Claytronics will be a testbed for solving some of the most challenging problems we face today: how to
build complex, massively distributed dynamic systems. Itis also a step towards truly integrating computers
into our livesby having them integrated into the very artifacts around us and allowing them to interact
withthe world.
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CONTENTS
TOPIC
1. Introduction to Programmable Matter
2. Introduction to Claytronics
3. Goals of Claytronics
4. Ensemble Principle
5. Scaling and Design Principles
6. Claytronics Hardware
6.1 Planar Catom
6.2 Electrostatic Latches
6.3 Stochastic Catoms
6.4 Giant Helium Catoms
6.5 Cube
6.6 Millimeter Scale Catom
7. Claytronics Soft ware
7.1 Distributed Computing In Claytronics
8. Applications of Claytronics 3D Fax Machine
8.1 Physical Characteristics
8.2 Electrical Properties
9. Overview of Working of a 3-D Fax Machine 16
9.1 Shape Acquisition
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9.2 Key Differences
9.2.1 Contact v/s Non-Contact Sensing
9.2.2 Simplified Geometry
9.2.3 Parallel v/s Series Read In
9.3 Remote Transition
9.4 Shape Reconstruction
10. Summary
20
11. Conclusion
21
12. Reference 22
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1. INTRODUCTION TOPROGRAMMABLE MATTER
In the words of Goldstein* Programmable matter refers to a technology that will allow one to control and
manipulate three-dimensional physical artifacts (similar to how we already control and manipulate two-
dimensional images with computer graphics). In other words, programmable matter will allow us to take a
(big) step beyond virtual reality, to synthetic reality, an environment in which all the objects in a users
environment (including the ones inserted by the computer) are physically realized. Note that the idea is
not to transport objects nor is it to recreate an objects chemical composition, but rather to create aphysical artifact that will mimic the shape, movement, visual appearance, sound, and tactile qualities of
the original object.
Programmable matter is a proposed digitalmaterial having computation, sensing, actuation, and display as
continuous properties active over its whole extent. Programmable matter would have many exciting
applications, like paintable displays, shapechanging robots and tools, rapid prototyping, and
sculpturebased hap c interfaces. Programmable matter would be composed of millimeterscale
autonomous micro system particles, without internalmoving parts, bound by electromagnetic forcesor an
adhesive binder.
2. INTRODUCTION TOCLAYTRONICS
Claytronics is a form a programmable matterthat takes the concept of modular robots to anew extreme
Claytronics is our name for an instance of programmable matter whose primary function is to organize
itself into the shape of an object and render its outer surface to match the visual appearance of that
object.
Claytronics is made up of individual components, called catomsfor Claytronic atomsthat can move in
three dimensions (in rela on to other catoms), adhere to other catoms to maintain a 3D shape, and
compute state information (with possible assistance from other catoms in the ensemble). The claytronics
project combines modular robotics, systems nanotechnology and computer science to create thedynamic,
3Dimensional display of electronicinformation.
The enabling hardware technology behind synthetic reality is Claytronics, a form of programmable matter
that can organize itself into the shape of an object and render its outer surface to match the visua
appearance of that object.
Claytronics is made up of individual components, called catomsfor Claytronic atomsthat can move in
three dimensions (in rela on to other catoms), adhere to other catoms to maintain a 3D shape, and
compute state information (with possible assistance from othercatoms in the ensemble).
A Claytronics system forms a shape through theinteraction of the individual catoms. For example, suppose
we wish to synthesize a physical copy of a person. The catoms would first determine their relative
location and orientation. Using that information they would then form anetwork in a distributed fashion
and organize themselves into a hierarchical structure, both to improve locality and to facilitate the
planningand coordination tasks. The goal (mimicking ahuman form) would then be specified abstractly,
perhaps as a series ofsnapshots or as a collection of virtual deforming forces, and thenbroadcast to
the catoms. Compilation of thespecification would then provide each catomwith a local plan for achieving
the desired globalshape. At this point, the catoms would start tomove around each other using forces
generatedonboard, either magnetically or electrostatically, and adhere to each other using for example,a
Nano fiberadhesive mechanism
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Finally, the catoms on the surface would displayan image; rendering the color and texture characteristics
of the source object. If the source object
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begins to move, a concise description of the movements would be broadcast allowing the catoms to
update their positions by moving around each other. The end result is that the system appears to be a
single coordinated system.
3. GOALS OF CLAYTRONICS
One of the primary goals of claytronics is to form the basis for a new media type, pario.Pario, a logica
extension of audio and video, isa media type used to reproduce moving 3D objects in the real world.
The long term goal of our work is to renderphysical artifacts with such high fidelity that oursenses wil
easily accept the reproduction for the original. When this goal is achieved we will be able to create an
environment, which we call synthetic reality, in which a user can interact with computer generated
artifacts as if theywere the real thing. Synthetic reality has significant advantages over virtual reality or
augmented reality. For example, there is no need forthe user to use any form of sensory augmentation,
e.g., head mounted displays or haptic feedback devices will be able to see, touch,pickup, or even use the
rendered artifacts.
4. ENSEMBLE PRINCIPLE
The ensemble principle states A robot module should include only enough functionality tocontribute to the
ensembles desired functionality.
Realizing the goal requires new ways of thinking about massive numbers of cooperating millimeter- scale
units. Most importantly, it demands simplifying and redesigning the softwareand hardware used in each
catom to reducecomplexity and manufacturing cost and increaserobustness and reliability. For example,
each catom must work cooperatively with others in the ensemble to move, communicate, and obtain
power.
5.SCALING AND DESIGN PRINCIPLES
A fundamental requirement of Claytronics is that the system must scale to very large numbers of
interacting catoms. In addition to previously stated principles for the design of modularrobots we have the
following four design principles:
Each catom should be self-contained, in thesense of possessing everything necessary forperforming its
own computation, communication, sensing, actuation, locomotion, andadhesion.
.To support efficient routing of power andavoid excessive heat dissipation, no staticpower should contain
no moving parts
The coordination of the catoms should beperformed via local control. In particular, no
computation external to the ensembleshould be necessary forindividual catom execution.
For economic viability,
manufacturability, andreliability, catoms shouldcontain no moving parts
.
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6. CLAYTRONICS
HARDWARE
Each catom is a self-contained unit with a CPU,an energy store, a network device, a video output device,one or more sensors, a means oflocomotion, and a mechanism for adhering toother catoms.
At the current stage of design, claytronics hardware operates from macroscale designs withdevices that
are much larger than the tiny modular robots that set the goals of this engineering research. Such devices
are designed to test concepts for sub-millimeter scale modules and to elucidate crucial effects of the
physical andelectrical forces that affect Nano scale robots.
6. 1 Planar catoms
It test the concept of motion without moving parts and the design of force effectors that create
cooperative motion within ensembles ofmodular robots.
This planar catom is approximately 45 timeslarger in diameter than the millimeter scalecatom for which
its work is a bigger-than-lifeprototype. It operates on a two-dimensionalplane in small groups of two to
seven modules in order to allow researchers to understand how micro-electro mechanical devices can
move and communicate.
6.2 Electrostatic latches
Model a new system of binding and releasing the connection between modular robots, aconnection that
creates motion and transfers power and data while employing asmall factor of a powerful force.
6.3 Stochastic Catoms
It integrate random motion with global objectives communicated in simple computer language to form
predetermined patterns, using a natural force to actuate a simple device, one that cooperates with other
small helium catoms to fulfill a set of unique instructions. Depending upon the scale of the device,
actuation of the module's motion can be created withvarious sources of energy, including currents ofair,
electrostatics or, in the case of a study of thephenomenon during Andrew's Leap, Carnegie
Mellon's summer enrichment program, the propelling motion of high school students throwing
heliumfilled balloons. From such forces, a module derives an ini ally incoherent motion that causes
random contacts with othemodules. In these contacts, the module evaluates the appropriateness offorming a connection with the other module.The module makes its decision by evaluatingthe relation of
its form in the instance of thecontact location to the ensemble's overall goalfor a predetermined shape.
Based on this evaluation, the module either forms a bond or continues in motion.
6.4 Giant Helium Catoms
Provide a largerthanlife, lighterthanairplatform to explore the relation of forces whenelectrostatics has
a greater effect than gravity on a robotic device, an effect simulated with a modular robot designed for
selfconstruction of macroscale structures. The Giant Helium Catom provides researchers a macroscale
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instrument to investigate physical forces that affect microscale devices. The GHC was designed to
approximate therelationship between a nearzeromass (orweightless) particle and the force of electro-
magnetic fields spread across the surface of such particles. Such studies are needed to understand the
influence of surface tensions onthe engineering of interfaces for nanoscale devices.
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6.5 Cubes
Employ electrostatic latches to demonstrate thefunctionality of a device that could be used in a system of
latice-style self-assembly at both themacro and nano-scale.
system composed of numerous resource- limited catomsraises significant software issues: specifying
functionality, managing concurrency, handling failure robustly, dealing with uncertain information, and
controlling resourceusage. The software used to control claytronicsmust also scale to millions of catoms.
Thus, current software engineering practices, even asapplied to distributed systems, may not be suitable.
Scientists are just beginning to explore thesoftware design principles needed.
The main parts of the software can be categorized into specification, compilation, and run me support.
6.6 Millimeter scale catom
The millimeter scale catom consists of a tube and a High voltage CMOS die a ached inside thetube. The
tubes are fabricated as double-layer planar structures in 2D using standard photolithography. The
difference in thermal stress created in the layers during the fabrication processes causes the 2D structures
to bend into a 3Dtube upon release from the substrate. The tubeshave electrodes for power transfer and
actuation on the perimeter.
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7. CLAYTRONICSSOFTWARE
The essence of claytronicsa massively distributed system composed of numerous resource- limited
catomsraises significant software issues: specifying functionality, managing concurrency, handling failure
robustly, dealing with uncertain information, and controlling resourceusage. The software used to contro
claytronics must also scale to millions of catoms. Thus, current software engineering practices, even as
applied to distributed systems, may not be suitable. Scientists are just beginning to explore the software
design principles needed.
The main parts of the software can be categorized into specification, compilation, and run me support.
Underlying the user-level so ware is a distributed run me system. This system needs toshield the user from
the details of using and managing the massive number of catoms. The initial steps in this direction use
emergent behavior to determine a catoms location and orientation with respect to all catoms as well as to
build a hierarchical network for communicationbetween catoms. Efficient localizaion isachieved by having
the catoms determine theirrelative location and orientation in a distributed fashion. Then as regions of
localized catomsjoin up they unify their coordinate systems. Once catoms are localized a hierarchicalcommunication network is formed, again using simple local programs on each catom. A tree is formed in
parallel by having nodes join with their neighbors until all the nodes are in a single tree. This simple
algorithm produces a surprisingly efficient tree which can then be further optimized.
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7.1 DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING IN CLAYTRONICS
Research scientists and engineers of theCarnegie Mellon-Intel Claytronics ResearchProgram have
formulated a very broad-basedand in-depth research program to develop acomplete structure of
software resources forthe creation and operation of the denselydistributed network of robotic nodes in a
claytronic matrix. A notable characteristic of aclaytronic matrix is its huge concentration ofcomputational
power within a small space. Forexample, an ensemble of catoms with a physicalvolume of one cubic
meter could contain 1 billion catoms. Computing in parallel, these tinyrobots would provideunprecedented computing capacity within a space not much largerthan a standard packing container. This
arrangement of computing capacity createsa challenging new programming environmentfor authors of so
ware. Because of its vast number of individual computing nodes, the matrixinvites comparison with the
worldwide reservoir of computing resources connectedthrough the Internet, a medium that notonly
distributes data around the globe but alsoenables nodes on the network to share workfrom remote
locations. The physical concentration of millions of computing nodes in the smallspace of a claytronic
ensemble thus suggests forit the metaphor of an Internet that sits on adesk.
Languages to program a matrix require amore abbreviated syntax and style of command than the lengthy
instructions thatwidely used network languages such asC++ and Java employ when translatingdata for
computers. In contrast to that tightlylinked programming environment of multifunctional machines,
where C++, Java and similar languages evolved, a claytronic matrix presents a software developer with a
highly organized, single-purpose, densely concentratedand physically dynamic network of unwirednodes
that create connections by rotating contacts with the closest neighbors. The architecture of this
programming realm requires morethan instructions that move packets of datathrough unstable channels.
Matrix softwaremust also actuate the constant change in thephysical locations of the anonymous nodes
while they are transferring the data throughthe network.
In this environment, the processes of each individual catom must be en rely dedicated to theoperational
goal of the matrix, which is the formation of dynamic, 3-dimensional shapes. Yet,given the vast number of
nodes, the matrixcannot dedicate its global resources to the micro management of each catom. Thus,everycatom must achieve a state of self-actuation in cooperation with its immeditiate neighbors.
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The Carnegie Mellon-Intel Claytronics Research Project has created two new programming languages:
Meld and Locally Distributed Predicates (LDP).
A. MELD
Meld is a declarative language, 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 globa
perspective, enabling the programmer to concentrate on the overall performance of the claytronics matrix
rather than writing individual instructions for every one of the thousands to millions of catoms in the
ensemble. This dramatically simplifies the thought process for programming the movement of a claytronics
matrix. Meld is a programming language designed for robustly programming massive ensembles. Meld was
designed to give the programmer an ensemble-centric viewpoint, where they write a program for an
ensemble rather than the modules that make it up. A program is then compiled into individual programs
for the nodes that make up the ensemble. In this way the programmer need not worry about the details of
programming a distributed system and can focus on the logic of their program. Because Meld is a
declarative programming language (specifically, a logic programming language), the programs written in
Meld are concise. Both the localization algorithm and the metamodule planning algorithms (papers linked
below) are implemented in Meld in only a few pages of code. Because the implementations are so concise,
we've found it practical to prove them correct. We have proved correctness of the metamodule planning
algorithm as written in Meld. We found this proof to be easier to carry out than a proof on pseudo code.
Furthermore, these implementations are inherently fault-tolerant. They can recover from modules that
experience FAIL-STOP errors as the Meld runtime automatically recovers from these errors without any
need for the programmer to think about them. Between the ability to perform proofs directly on Meld
code and the inherent faulttolerance provided by the runtime, Meld programs are robust. They have been
demonstrated on ensembles containing millions of modules, as shown in the video on the right.
B.LDP
LDP is a reactive programming language. It has been used to trigger debugging in the earlier research. Withthe addition of language that enables the programmer to build operations in the development of the shape
of the matrix, it can be used to analyze the distributed local conditions. It can operate on fixed-size,
connected groups of modules providing various functions of state configuration. A program that addresses
a fixed-size module rather than the entire ensemble allows programmers to operate the claytronic matrix
more frequently and efficiently. LDP further provides a means of matching distributed patterns. It enables
the programmer to address a larger set of variables with Boolean logic, which enables the program to
search for larger patterns of activity and behaviour among groups of modules. LDP approaches the
distributed programming problem using pattern-matching techniques. LDP provides programmers the
ability to specify distributed state configurations, based on combinations of the state found on connected
subgroups of catoms. The LDP runtime automatically detects occurrences of these distributedconfigurations, and triggers user-specified actions in response to the detection event. LDP also allows for
the expression of distributed event sequences (through the use of automated history and temporal
operators), as well as the expression of particular shapes (through topological restrictions). These facilities,
combined with an array of mathematical and logical operators, allow programmers to express a wide
variety of distributed conditions. As with Meld, LDP produces dramatically shorter code than traditiona
high-level languages (C++, Java, etc.). LDP is descended from work on distributed debugging, and as such
its strengths lie in the ability to efficiently detect conditions on variably-sized groups of modules, interface
easily with existing low-level code, and easily express a large numbers of common distributed
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programming idioms. LDP has been used to implement several motions planning algorithms, as well as a
variety of low-level utilities such as gradient fields and distributed aggregation.
C. Distributed Watchpoints
Performance errors for thousands to millions of individual catoms are hard to detect and debug, therefore,
claytronics matrix operations require a dynamic and self-directed process for identifying and debugging
errors. Claytronics researchers have developed Distributed Watchpoints, an algorithm-level approach to
detecting and fixing errors missed by more conventional debugging techniques. It establishes nodes that
receive surveillance to determine the validity of distributed conditions. This approach provides a simple
and highly descriptive set of rules to evaluate distributed conditions and proves effective in the detection
of errors.
D. Algorithms
Two important classes of claytronics algorithms are shape sculpting and localization algorithms. The
ultimate goal of claytronics research is creating dynamic motion in three dimensional poses. All the
research on catom motion, collective actuation and hierarchical motion planning require shape sculpting
algorithms to convert catoms into the necessary structure, which will give structural strength and fluidmovement to the dynamic ensemble. Meanwhile, localization algorithms enable catoms to localize their
positions in an ensemble. A localization algorithm should provide accurate relational knowledge of catoms
to the whole matrix based on noisy observation in a fully distributed manner
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E.LOCALIZATION
It means determining module location from noisy observations.
In order to determine their locations, the modules need to rely on noisy observations of their immediate
neighbors. These observations are obtained from sensors onboard the modules, Unlike many other
systems, a modular robot may not have access to long distance measurements.
Therefore, the robot needs to employ sophisticated probabilistic techniques to estimate the location of
each its module from noisy data.
One key idea is to hierarchically decompose the ensemble into smaller parts. The parts are localized first,
and the partial solutions are then merged to obtain an estimate for the entire ensemble. That means divide
and conquer.
The second key idea employed in our work is to limit the amount of communication sent between the
modules. Much like in a flock of birds, each module needs to communicate information about itself to
others in the ensemble, but should avoid communicating with everybody.
DYNAMIC SIMULATION AND DEBUGGING
Dynamic debugging is already possible because of the languages used- MELD and LDP are capable of this.
For dynamic simulation a new simulator DYNAMIC PHYSICAL RENDERING or DPR simulator is developed
by researchers.
DPR simulator operates in LINUX environment and this is open source.
It not only simulate in a dynamic way but also provides means to activate all catoms under real life
conditions- Gravity, Friction, Surface tension etc. making it a very effective tool.
LOCALIZATION
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8. APPLICATION OFCLAYTRONICS3D FAX MACHINE
A 3D fax machine which exploits inter-module communication and computation without requiring self-
reconfiguration. As a result, thisapplication may be feasible sooner than applications which depend upon
modules being able to move themselves. In this new approach to 3D faxing, a large number of sub-
millimeter robot modules form intelligent clay which canbe reshaped via the external application of
mechanical forces.This claycan act asa novel input device,Using intermodule localization techniques to
acquire the shape of a 3Dobject by casting.
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Key properties, required by such a materialwould be:
8.1 Physical Characteristics:
Suppose this material is composed of tiny, submillimeter particles that stick together, e.g., spheres
covered with a selfcleaning Nano fiber adhesive. The combination of discrete parts and adhesionwould
permit the required malleabilityfor this application. In an alternative implementation, the spheres could
be covered with thin insulated plates, permiting the spheres to adhere to eachother under so ware control
throughthe establishment of an appropriateelectricfield on each plate.
8.2 Electronic propeties:
Suppose further that each of these particles is actually a microfabricated silicon sphere, its surface
covered with electronic circuitry. A 300 micron (radius) sphere has a surface area of 1.13mm Current
embedded microprocessors can be fabricated in only 0.26mm using mature process technology. With
specialized design and modest processimprovements it is feasible that anentire system can be embedded
on such a sphere, including microprocessor, memory, communications, power distribution, and sensor
circuits.
Although other technologies have been proposed to implement 3D faxing, the modular micro robot
approach has certain distinct advantages, notably size and speed. In contrast to 3D fax machine
approaches using serial (raster) input and output devices such as a laser scanner and 3D printer,
programmable matter would acquire the 3D input shape and generate the 3D output shape in parallel.
Thus, ratherthan taking hours to days the process could take seconds to minutes. Laser scanners and 3D
printers also remain many times bulkier than the object being scanned/ reproduced despite years of
commercial development. Similar results could be achieved with a smaller volume of Programmable
matter.
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9. OVERVIEW OF WORKING OF
3D FAX MACHINE
The process of remotely reproducing a facsimile of an object requires three phases: acquisition,transmission, and reproduction. In the first phase, the system senses the object and creates a digita
representation of the visible, external structure. The shape information isthen transmitted to the remote
site. Finally, using the transmitted data, a facsimile of the object is reconstructed at the remote site.
In the nomenclature of Claytronics system, a connected volume of programmable matter is termed an
ensemble, a word we use interchangeably here with mass. Individual units aretermed catoms, and in this
paper we also usemodule and particle to mean the same thing ascatom.
9.1 SHAPE ACQUISITION
A variety of structured light approaches, mostbased on scanning lasers, are capable of producing medium
to high resolution digital representations of the 3D external structure of an object.
Multi camera stereo systems can also capture dense shape information, though with a variety of
limitations imposed by nonLambertiansurfaces and the unsolved nature of the correspondence problem.
9.2 Key differences
9.2.1 Contact vs. non-contact sensing
Programmable matter can read the shape of anobject by direct contact with its surface. Structured light
(laser) and stereo approaches workat some distance and hence impose constraints on object curvature
and selfshadowing.
9.2.2 Simplified geometries
Because of the relatively limited geometric possibilities for sphere packing and the absence of large
unclosed loops or featurelessspaces, the localization problem for a programmable matter ensemble can
be significantly easier.
9.2.3 Parallel vs. serial read-in
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Programmable matter localization is a highlyparallelizable operation. Resolution is a function of the catom
size rather than scan rate orthe spatial frequency of scanning.
A claytronic ensemble performs selflocalization by a multiphase peertopeer communication process
between the individual catoms in the ensemble. Each catoms surface is covered with contact patches
permitting communication between neighbors. The particular surface site used to communicate with a
given neighbor identifies the relative geometryof that neighbor to within a known tolerance
for successful communication. The high degreeof interconnectedness offered in a packed ornear close-packed latice allows quick convergence for robust location estimation techniques.
Unlike digital sampling in PCM systems where the Nyquist frequency offers a sharp bound on sampling
precision, catoms can pack spacesdown to the width of a single catom.
9.3 REMOTE TRANSMISSION
After the 3D structure has been determined bydigital shape acquisition, many well-knowntechniques can
be used to store, manipulate,and transmit it. A radio or op cal bridge would likely be used to extract the
shape informationfrom the ensemble and transfer it to a computing device.
9.4 SHAPE RECONSTRUCTION
In the final stage of a 3D fax system, thetransmitted data is used to reconstruct thestructure of the object
at the remote site. Onemethod of converting the digital description to aphysical replica is to use a 3D
printer based on rapid prototyping techniques such as fused deposition modeling or stereo lithography.
Such adevice can create a physical object from a digitalrepresentation by building up the structure layer
by layer or line by line.
With programmable matter, shape reconstruction can be implemented in at least two different ways:
First, with a fully-functional claytronic ensemble,i.e., one capable of self-reconfiguration, wecould imaginethe ensemble reshaping itself oncommand to conform to the desired shape. Because many catoms can
move simultaneouslythis process would be substantially fasterthan a raster or planar deposition process.
Second, with catoms incapable of self-reconfiguration but equipped with simple inter-catom latches which
can selectively bond on module to another, a shape can be formed bywhat we term digital sand casting
First, an appropriate volume of catoms is used to fill a closed structure such as a bucket. Power issupplied
to the ensemble and the desired shape is transmitted to it. The catoms in the ensemble carry out self-
localization to identifythe coordinate structure within which theysit.
Then, each catom evaluates whether it is or isnot part of the target shape. Those catomswhich are part of
the target shape bond themselves together, while the other catoms simplyswitch themselves off. The user
then pours orsweeps off the unbonded catoms to reveal thereconstructed shape.
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V.A foresight of Claytronics
You being a designer of a car want to show your design of the car and what if you have claytronics as
a tool? Now let us see the magic claytronics does with its great feature of virtual reality. Let us now see few
of the pictures as to how all this can be done with very great ease.
Short of size????????? Increase it simply with your hand movements as
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Hope you have made changes you need and now want
to change the colour??? Its simple too..
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10. SUMMARY
Programmable matter is a technology that allows us to control and manipulate 3 dimensional physical
artifacts, in a similar way how we already control and manipulate two-dimensional images with computer
graphics. In other words, programmable matter will allow us to take a big step beyond virtual reality, to
synthetic reality, an environment in which all the objects in a users environment (including the ones
inserted by the computer) are physically realized.
Claytronics is an instance of programmable matter, a system which can be used to realize 3D dynamic
objects in the physical world. This technology not only realizes pario and synthetic reality, it also serves as
the basis for a large scale modular robotic system.
The Claytronics system is essentially an embedded system, consisting of hardware and software parts,
brought together for achieving a special purpose.
The hardware machine is known as Catoms. Each catom is a self-contained unit with a CPU, an energy
store, a network device, a video output device, one or more sensors, a means of locomotion, and a
mechanism for adhering to other catoms.
The software part, on the other hand, is taken care by Meld is a declarative language, which based on P2, a
logic-programming language originally designed for programming overlay networks. It 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.
One of the novel applications of the Claytronics project is 3D printing and Fax machine- which exploits
inter-module communication and computation without requiring self-reconfiguration. As a result, this
application may be feasible sooner than applications which depend upon modules being able to move
themselves.
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11. CONCLUSION
The report told you about the advances made in the field of programmable matter and the claytronics
system. The scientists at Carneige Mellon University, in association with Intel is doing research on this field
of technology and striving to make Catoms of Micro and Nano scale,which follows the principles laid by
the phenomena of programmable matter. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology have also made
contribution in the field of designing of programmable matter.
With the advancement in technology, development of simpler and intuitive programming language along
with consolidation and miniaturization of memory and other functional parts of
Catoms, we can see a day in the future, when the images we see in the television will takephysical forms
and occupy the space, we live in. Not only can that, these completely realisticrepresentations will interact
with us in ways the real counterpart does.
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12. REFERENCE
Goldstein, S., Mowry, T., Kirby, B., et al. 2005. Claytronics. Forthcoming (please see
www.cs.cmu.edu/~claytronics/ for an updated cita on)
Murata, S., Kurokawa, H., Kokaji, S. 1994. Self-assembling machine. In Proc. IEEE ICRA, pp. 441448.
Burak Aksak, Seth Copen Goldstein, et al. Demo abstract: Claytronicshighly scalable communica-
ons, sensing, and actua on networks. In Proceedings of the 3rd interna onal conference on Embed
ded networked sensor systems (SenSys), page 299, 2005.
Seth Copen Goldstein, Jason Campbell and Todd C. Mowry. Programmable ma er. IEEE Computer, 38
(6):99101, June 2005.
A Modular Robo c System Using Magne c Force Effectors in Proceedings of the 2007 IEEE/RSJ Interna
onal Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems San Diego, CA, USA, Oct 29 Nov 2, 2007
Pi sburg magazine October 2007 issue
Extended abstract of Claytronics: A Scalable Basis For Future Robots by Seth Copen Goldstein and Todd
Mowry.
Catoms: Moving Robots Without Moving Parts by Seth Copen Goldstein and Todd Mowry.
Project to build a 3d fax machine h p://graphics.stanford.edu/projects/faxing/
Claytronics project website, h p://www.cs.cmu.edu/~claytronics/
Design of Programmable Ma er by Ara N. Knaian
Proceedings of the 2006 IEEE/RSJ Interna onal Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems October 9
15, 2006, Beijing, China A 3D Fax Machine based on Claytronics
Dynamic physical rendering simulator (unpublished), h p://www.pi sburgh.intelresearch.net/
dprweb/
Resources of:
Carnegie Mellon University, Pi sburgh
Intel Research Pi sburgh, Pi sburgh
Master of Science in Media Arts and Sciences at the MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
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