Towards a Passive Self-Assembling Macroscale Multi-Robot System

The combined efforts of theoretical computer science, biochemistry, and nanotechnology have enabled the design of tile-based systems capable of self-assembling intricate patterns in a massively parallel manner, with low error rates, and applications ranging from DNA computing to microelectronics. However, as the underlying physical and chemical principles do not directly translate from micro to the macroscale, the transition to centimeter-scale systems remains challenging. In this contribution, we propose a framework for designing macroscale passive robots (tiles) capable of targeted self-assembly under uncontrolled external mechanical excitation. Self-assembly at this scale is achieved by using properly designed magneto-mechanical locks (glues) to accomplish jamming-free assembly, a dedicated encoding of glues to guide tile interactions, and consistent formalization of geometrical constraints that ensure the valid assembly. The potential of our framework is demonstrated by the errorless assembly of a chessboard pattern, thereby showing its robustness, three-fold increase in error recovery, and two-fold increase in growth rate, when compared to a fully magnetic approach.