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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 millimeterscale

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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