SMAC: Symbiotic Multi-Agent Construction

Abstract: We present a novel concept of a heterogeneous, distributed platform for autonomous 3D construction. The platform is composed of two types of robots acting in a coordinated and complementary fashion: (i) A collection of communicating smart construction blocks behaving as a form of growable smart matter, and capable of planning and monitoring their own state and the construction progress; and (ii) A team of inchworm-shaped builder robots designed to navigate and modify the 3D structure, following the guidance of the smart blocks. We describe the design of the hardware and introduce algorithms for navigation and construction that support a wide class of 3D structures. We demonstrate the capabilities of our concept and characterize its performance through simulations and real-robot experiments.