Claytronics

CLAYTRONICS
CONTENTS
Abstract
Introduction
Aim
Claytronics
1. Claytronics Hardware
2. Software Research
21
3. Claytronics Software
23
Conclusion
41
Future Scope
42
Bibliography
43
Department of BCA, SRBS Gujarati College, Kochi
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CLAYTRONICS
ABSTRACT
This paper introduces a new branch of technology, the programmable
matter. Claytronics is an abstract future concept that combines nanoscale robotics
and computer science 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 idea is more broadly referred to as
programmable matter. Claytronics has the potential to greatly affect many areas
of daily life, such as telecommunication, human-computer interfaces, and
entertainment.
Claytronics is a 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. Programmable matter is a proposed digital
material having computation, sensing, actuation and display as continuous
properties active over its whole extent.
Claytronics is made up of individual components, called catomsfor
Claytronic atomsthat can move in three dimensions (in relation 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). 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. Objects featuring these catoms can be
radically altered in form and function. Furniture can morph into new types, for
instance. bed could suddenly become a sofa, or a large table. Chairs can be
instantly moulded to precisely suit the individual. Walls, carpets, ceilings, doors
and other surfaces can modify their colour or texture on demand. Many vehicles
now make use of claytronics. Car surfaces can change colour at the touch of a
button or they can self-heal: fixing bumps, scratches and other damage.
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INTRODUCTION
Claytronics is an emerging field of engineering concerning reconfigurable
nanoscale robots (claytronic atoms or catoms) designed to form large-scale
machines or mechanisms. The catoms would be sub millimeter computers that
eventually gain the ability to move around, communicate with other computers,
change colour, and electrostatically connect to other catoms to form different
shapes when instructed by the software to do so. The forms made up of catoms
could morph into any object, even replicas of human beings for virtual meetings.
Claytronics research arose out of a combination of work on micro-scale
computing devices and on tele-presence. To get these claytronic manifestations
organise themselves, it has been suggested that they adjust the size and locations
of empty chambers within a groups general structure to form raised areas or
troughs. This would allow their overall shape to be controlled delicately.
Photo-sensors and pressure sensors would allow input to be transmitted
to any location required. The undergoing research combines modular robotic
systems, nanotechnology and computer science to create dynamic, 3D display of
electronic information. Initial research is focused on creating the basic modular
building blocks of claytronics, on designing and in writing robust and reliable
software programs that will shape ensembles of millions of catoms into dynamic
3D forms. The aim is to give tangible, interactive forms to information so that a
users senses can experience digital environments as if they are indistinguishable
from reality. This technology will help to drive breathtaking advances in design
and engineering of computing and hardware systems.
Researchers say they will have a hardware prototype of sub-millimeter
electrostatic modules in five years and will be able to fax complex 3D models
of anything, from engagement rings to sports carsby 2017. If it works,
claytronics could transform communication, entertainment, medicine and more
as it promises to help humanity in different ways.
Keywords-Claytronics, Catoms, Macro, Nano, MELD, LDP
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CLAYTRONICS
AIM
Creating the basic modular building block of claytronics known as the claytronic
atom or catom, and
Designing and writing robust and reliable software programs that will manage the
shaping of ensembles of millions of catoms into dynamic, 3-Dimensional forms.
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Claytronics
Collaborative Research in Programmable Matter Directed by Carnegie Mellon and Intel
This project combines modular robotics, systems nanotechnology and
computer science to create the dynamic, 3-Dimensional display of electronic
information known as claytronics.
Our goal is to give tangible, interactive forms to information so that a user's senses
will experience digital environments as though they are indistinguishable from
reality.
Claytronics is taking place across a rapidly advancing frontier. This
technology will help to drive breathtaking advances in the design and engineering of
computing and hardware systems.
Our research team focuses on two main projects:
Creating the basic modular building block of claytronics known as the claytronic
atom or catom, and
Designing and writing robust and reliable software programs that will manage the
shaping of ensembles of millions of catoms into dynamic, 3-Dimensional forms.
Realizing the vision of claytronics through the self-assembly of millions of
catoms into synthetic reality will have a profound effect on the experience of users of
electronic information. This promise of claytronic technology has become possible
because of the ever increasing speeds of computer processing predicted in Moore's
Law.
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1. Claytronics Hardware
At the current stage of design, claytronics hardware operates from macroscale
designs with devices 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-millimetre scale modules and to elucidate crucial effects of the physical and
electrical forces that affect nanoscale robots.
Planar catoms test the concept of motion without moving parts and the design of
force effectors that create cooperative motion within ensembles of modular
robots.
Electrostatic latches model a new system of binding and releasing the connection
between modular robots, a connection that creates motion and transfers power
and data while employing a small factor of a powerful force.
Stochastic Catoms 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.
Giant Helium Catoms provide a larger-than-life, lighter-than-air platform to
explore the relation of forces when electrostatics has a greater effect than gravity
on a robotic device, an effect simulated with a modular robot designed for selfconstruction of macro-scale structures.
Cubes employ electrostatic latches to demonstrate the functionality of a device
that could be used in a system of lattice-style self-assembly at both the macro and
nano-scale.
As these creative systems have evolved in the Carnegie Mellon-Intel Claytronics

Hardware Lab, they have prepared the path for development of a millimeter scale
module that will represent the creation of a self-actuating catom - a device that can
compute, move, and communicate - at the nano-scale.
With the millimeter scale modular robot, the Claytronics Hardware Lab will
demonstrate the feasibility of manufacturing catoms in the quantities needed to
produce dynamic 3-dimensional representations of original objects.
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1.1 Blinky Blocks
The key to wide dissemination of a programmable matter material is

achieving the necessary scale in terms of both quantity and cost. Hundreds or
thousands of units are necessary, as otherwise the emergent properties of ensemble
programming are not apparent. To be able to disseminate hundreds of units to many
different groups, they must be affordable.
A Blinky Blocks system is a modular distributed execution environment
composed of centimeter-size blocks that are attached to each other using magnets.
Each block, roughly a 40mm cube, has sufficient processing, communication (serial
link with up to 6 neighbours), and storage capabilities to implement a wide variety
of distributed tasks.
Users are encouraged to leave the power on and plug and unplug units
during runtime to enable changes in behaviour based on new physical groupings.
Color change is the primary mode of feedback to the users each block has several
powerful RGB LEDs so that they can glow with any color and brightness level and
be visible in normal office lighting conditions. Several secondary capabilities also
exist. The blocks can detect their current orientation, as well as changes in orientation
and sudden impulses such as shaking or tapping. They are also able to play sounds
through their speaker, from simple beeps to complex waveforms streamed off their
internal storage. Capturing sound is possible with the onboard microphone.
In a typical usage situation, each Blinky Block in an ensemble is loaded with
the same Meld program.
1.2 Millimeter Scale Catoms
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Realizing high-resolution applications that Claytronics offers requires
catoms that are in the order of millimeters. In this work, we develop and demonstrate
millimeter-scale catoms that are electrostatically actuated and self contained. As a
simplified approach we build cylindrical catoms instead of spheres.
The millimeter scale catom consists of a cylindrical shell and a High voltage
CMOS die attached inside the tube. 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 3D tubes upon release from the substrate. The tubes have electrodes for power
transfer and actuation on the perimeter.
The high voltage CMOS die is fabricated separately and is manually flip-chip
bonded to the tube before release. The chip includes a rectifier, a charge pump for
creating high voltages, a storage capacitor, a simple logic unit, and high voltage
drivers.
The catom moves on a power grid (the stator) that contains rails which carry
high voltage AC signals. Through capacitive coupling, an AC signal is generated on
the coupling electrodes of the tube, which is then converted to DC power by the chip.
The powered chip then generates voltage on the actuation electrodes sequentially,
creating electric fields that push the tube forward.
1.3 Cubes
A lattice-style modular robot, the 22-cubic-centimeter Cube, which has been
developed in the Carnegie Mellon-Intel Claytronics Research Program, provides a
base of actuation for the electrostatic latch that has also been engineered as part of
this program. The Cube (pictured below, right) also models the primary building
block in a hypothetical system for robotic self-assembly that could be used for
modular construction and employ Cubes that are larger or smaller in scale than the
pictured device.
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The design of a cube, which resembles a box with starbursts flowering from
six sides, emphasizes several performance criteria: accurate and fast engagement,
facile release and firm, strong adhesion while Cube latches clasps one module to
another. Its geometry enables reliable coupling of modules, a strong binding
electrostatic force and close spacing of modules within an ensemble to create
structural stability.
Designed to project angular motion from the faces of its box-like shape, the
Cube extends and contracts six electrostatic latching devices on stem assemblies. By
this mechanism, the latches of a Cube integrate with latches on adjacent Cubes for
construction of larger shapes.
With extension and retraction of stem-drive arms that carry the latches, the
module achieves motion, exchanges power and communicates with other Cubes in a
matrix that contains many of these devices. Combining these forces of motion,
attachment and data coupling, Cubes demonstrate a potential to create intricate
forms from meta-modules or ensembles that consist of much greater numbers of
Cubes; numbers determined by the scale of Cubes employed in an ensemble of selfconstruction.
To create motion for a Cube in a matrix of many cubes, a direct-current motor
inside the Cube 's central frame actuates expansion and contraction of electrostatic
latches fixed to the ends of independent worm-drive assemblies.
Housed in
individual tubes, the assemblies provide arms to support the motion of latches from
six sides of the central frame. Linear motion enables the Cube to exploit considerable
lateral flexibility for forming shapes within a matrix. The Cube measures 22 cm
between faces when fully contracted and 44 cm when fully expanded.
The worm-drive assembly extends the face of one cube to create contact with
the face of an adjacent cube. The electrodes on each face create one-half of a
capacitor. When the two "genderless, " star-shaped faces of adjacent Cubes integrate
their combs, they complete a capacitor and form an electrostatic couple from the
contact of electrodes, which binds the faces as a completed latch.
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The capacitive couple, which forms the electrostatic latch, provides within an
ensemble of Cubes not only adhesion and structural stability but also the
transmission of power and communication. In a meta-module of many cubes, power
would move in discrete packets rather than as a continuous current, in a mode similar
to data moving through a network in discrete packets of bytes that reassemble into
larger packages of information at the point of delivery. This packet delivery of
energy would enable the meta-module or ensemble to move power from cubes that
have a surplus to others that require more of it.
Four sub-circuits within the capacitive couplings of these electrostatic latches
make possible this system of power transfer. With these circuits, the simultaneous
transfer of data would follow an even simpler scheme.
Cubes reconfigure by expanding the connected faces of two neighboring
modules so that one is pushed one block length across the assembly. Then by
contracting its extended arm, it pulls the next module forward. Such motion within
a meta-module consisting of sufficiently large numbers of cubes could form any
conceivable shape.
This micro-electro-mechanical device thus presents a model for a type of robotic
self-assembly of complex structures at both macro and micro scales.
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1.4 Powering Catoms with Magnetic Resonant Coupling
As a potential means for providing power to catoms without using electrical

connections, we have experimentally demonstrated wireless power transfer via
magnetic resonant coupling is in a system with a large source coil and either one or
two small receivers. Resonance between source and load coils is achieved with
lumped capacitors terminating the coils.
We have developed a circuit model to describe the system with a single

receiver, and extended it to describe the system with two receivers. With parameter
values chosen to obtain good fits, the circuit models yield transfer frequency
responses that are in good agreement with experimental measurements over a range
of frequencies that span the resonance. Resonant frequency splitting is observed
experimentally and described theoretically for the multiple receiver system.
In the single receiver system at resonance, more than 50% of the power that
is supplied by the actual source is delivered to the load. In a multiple receiver system,
a means for tracking frequency shifts and continuously retuning the lumped
capacitances that terminate each receiver coil so as to maximize efficiency is a key
issue for future work.
1.5 Planar Catoms
Creating Motion without Moving Parts

The self-actuating, cylinder-shaped planar catom tests concepts of motion,
power distribution, data transfer and communication that will be eventually
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incorporated into ensembles of nano-scale robots. It provides a testbed for the
architecture of micro-electro-mechanical systems for self-actuation in modular
robotic devices. Employing magnetic force to generate motion, its operations as a
research instrument build a bridge to a scale of engineering that will make it possible
to manufacture self-actuating nano-system devices.
The planar catom is approximately 45 times larger in diameter than the

millimeter scale catom for which its work is a bigger-than-life prototype. It operates
on a two-dimensional plane in small groups of two to seven modules in order to
allow researchers to understand how micro-electro-mechanical devices can move
and communicate at a scale that humans cannot yet readily perceive -- or imagine. It
forms a bridge into this realm across the evolving design of a sophisticated electromagnetic system whose features have followed a path of trail and error as the CMUIntel Claytronics Research Team has tested the concept of a robot that moves without
moving parts.
In its brief history of demonstrating motion without moving parts, the planar
catom has evolved through eight versions.
It began life as a concept vehicle
engineered with catalog-sourced hardware.
It has become a custom-designed
electronic and magnetic system that carries a complete control package aboard its
module.
Weighing 100 grams, Planar Catom V8, shown in the picture here, presents
for view its stack of control and magnet-sensor rings. Its solid state electronic
controls ride at the top of the stack. An individual control ring is dedicated to each
of the two rings of magnet sensors, which ride at the base of the module. Two thin
threaded rods extend like lateral girders from top to bottom through the outside edge
to brace the rings. A central connector stack carries circuits between control and
magnet rings, enabling easier handling and maintenance of components while also
providing internal alignment and stability along the cylinders axis.
At the base of the planar catom, the two heavier electro-magnet rings, which
comprise the motor for the device, also add stability. To create motion, the magnet
rings exchange the attraction and repulsion of electromagnetic force with magnet
rings on adjacent catoms. From this conversion of electrical to kinetic energy, the
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module achieves a turning motion to model the spherical rotation of millimeter-scale
catoms.
1.6 Motion from Two Magnet Rings

Pictured in a top view (left, below), two magnet rings from Planar Catom V7
display the arrangement of their 12 magnets around individual driver boards and the
coil design for horseshoe magnets introduced with Version 6 and then upgraded in
versions 7 and 8.
The magnets are arranged in the containment ring as the straightedge faces
of a 12-sided polygon seated in the acrylic plate that holds them in place. The
horseshoe magnets feature 39AWG magnet wire wrapped around AISI 1010 steel
cores, components selected to balance machinable metal and flux-saturation density.
Replacing barrel-shaped, round-face magnets in Planar Catom Versions 1-5,
the horseshoe magnet was adopted to boost magnet strength and create a wider
footprint. It also represents an evolution of the use of flat-surface magnets, which
were introduced in Planar Catom Version 5. Flat surfaces prove to be more efficient
for contact than round-face magnets. In a fully assembled catom, as seen in the earlier
picture of the V8 (above, right), a second magnet ring would ride below each of these
rings. The faces of the lower rings would be offset to the 12 gaps that appear between
the magnets in this top view. This view also highlights the geometry of plane surface
magnets as force effectors . A catom sustains a clockwise or counterclockwise motion
by a continuous transfer of electro-magnetic force to achieve the opposite motion in
the other catom.
When compared to a stepper motor, another brushless, synchronous motor
that relies upon a large number of steps to sustain motion, the planar catom faces
unique issues from alignment and friction, which this image suggests.
Imagine a third catom rotating in the space above the side-by-side rotation
of these adjacent magnet rings. Its magnets would contact magnets toward the top
of the two magnet rings shown here because of the physical impossibility of its
touching magnet faces nearer the point where these two exchange a contact.
This configuration highlights the temporarily "orphan " character of magnets
situated on either side of the contact points at any given moment in the rotation of
adjacent catoms. To better manage the flow of power in this circumstance where a
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contacting magnet blocks the potential of its neighbors, the controller operates each
magnet ring as 3 independent groups of four magnets. Thus it is possible to direct
power to one magnet in a group of four as the rotation advances in an ensemble.
This electrical design increases the accuracy of the alignment between
catoms. It improves torque control and heat management. It also eliminates 18
unnecessary signal paths from an earlier architecture that allocated an independent
signal path to each magnet. This design to refine functionality represents a 30
percent reduction of circuit complexity. It also illustrates the Ensemble Axiom 's
influence as an overarching design criterion. In this instance, it drives an economy
of function to reduce complexity in the device. Because there was no benefit for the
ensemble in the capacity of four neighboring magnets to actuate simultaneously, the
arrays of four magnets have been electronically consolidated to focus actuation on
the most magnet in the group that comes closest to a neighboring catom. This
modification in design enhances the functionality for the ensemble while
streamlining an element of the module 's complex alignment.
1.7 Electronic Density for Device Control

That economy in the design of the controls also makes more room for the rest
of the robust package of electronics that operate the module.
The picture to the right displays a planar catom controller ring with light
emitting diodes (LEDs) arranged around its perimeter. This board directs the two
magnet driver boards embedded in the magnet rings, as shown in the image above.
The custom design of the electronics achieves a very high level of capacity to
guide the module 's performance. Built with the smallest components commercially
available, each controller board contains 5 layers of embedded microcircuits on 45
mm diameter acrylic boards. At this density of circuit design, each of the two
controller rings provides approximately 40 times the embedded instrumentation of a
standard robotics controller package in 2/5th the space. The resulting capacity of its
boards enables the module to carry on board all devices needed to manage its
firmware, drivers and 24 magnets.
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A more typical robotics servo controller would carry a microprocessor,
motors, servos and other devices on one side of a 50 mm x 75 mm board embedded
with two layers of microcircuits. While building planar catoms to investigate a
customized actuation system that creates motion without moving parts, the design
team also achieved the complementary objective of constructing a robust, selfcontained modular robot.
In pursuing a goal that is broader than the testing of an individual system for
a modular robot, the research team has gained experience with micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) interfaces that use "genderless " connectors while testing
algorithms for the transfer of data and power across unary circuits whose points of
connection occur in a transitory state because of the rotation of the modules across
which the circuits are formed. This is the essence of the challenge of constructing
nanoscale devices whose motion will enable the shaping of 3-dimensional
representations of objects from ensembles of thousands of catoms.
Another component of this robust electronic system is shown in the picture
below of a Planar Catom Infrared Communication Board.
On this device, the Infrared Data (IrDA) transmitters and receivers are
separately multiplexed to transmit and receive signals on separate channels, allowing
fast, simultaneous transmission on all channels.
These global communication
features anticipate the necessity of debugging and reprogramming large ensembles
of catoms.
The engineering goal for these components is a system that supports
cooperative behavior among nanoscale robotic modules. This concept of machine
behavior is one in which the primary devices direct their own motion toward a
common goal by employing functionality that focuses every element of design on the
requirements of the ensemble rather than on those of the individual robot. The
engineering design thus adheres to the ensemble axiom by incorporating in these
devices only those functions that advance the functionality of the ensemble.
In the present stage of development, this model of cooperative movement -motion without moving parts -- can be seen in this video of two planar
catoms exchanging electromagnetic force in order to develop a circular motion.
The flexibility of its electro-magnetic system also enables the planar catoms
to emulate the shapes of hexagonal and cubic lattices, as well as various irregular
polygonal configurations, which are relevant to the modelling of nano-scale catom
ensembles.
These shapes conform to lattice configurations that optimize the
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communication among individual spherical catoms in an ensemble. For example,
within a fully-populated, three-dimensional hexagonally arranged ensemble, an
individual catom would have direct contact with as many as 12 other catoms.
The hexagonal configuration of a group of planar catoms is highlighted in
this concept video , which demonstrates the principle of motion without moving
parts. In the video, with an exchange of electromagnetic force one catom rotates
against an ensemble of six other catoms, whose conductive nodes appear as small
colored beads around the perimeter of each barrel-shaped module.
The feasibility of "motion without moving parts " is further explained in this
article for the American Association of Artificial Intelligence .
To gain a close-up view of a planar catom 's electrical components and more
detailed illustration of the evolution of the design and electro-magnetics of the planar
catom, visit this page of design notes .
1.8 Electrostatic Latches

A Binding Designed to Build a Matrix
A simple and robust inter-module latch is possibly the most important
component of a modular robotic system. The electrostatic latch pictured below was
developed as part of the Carnegie Mellon-Intel Claytronics Research Project. It
incorporates many innovative features into a simple, robust device for attaching
adjacent modules to each other in a lattice-style robotic system. These features
include a parallel plate capacitor constructed from flexible electrodes of aluminum
foil and dielectric film to create an adhesion force from electrostatic pressure. Its
physical alignment of electrodes also enables the latch to engage a mechanical shear
force that strengthens its holding force.
The electrodes that form the latch fit into "genderless " faces constructed as
star-shaped plastic frames carried by each module. In the design of the circuits, each
electrode functions as one-half of a complete capacitor. A latch forms when the faces
of two adjacent modules come together and create an electrostatic field between the
flexible electrodes.
Each star-shaped face supports passive self-alignment of the link with a 45degree blade angle at the top of each comb on the face. The design also supports
easy disengagement with a five-degree release angle along the vertical lines of the
faces.
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The parallel alignment of the electrodes in forming the complete capacitor
plate introduces a shear force - or friction - that strengthens the binding of the
latch. Once formed, the latch requires almost zero static power to maintain its
holding force. Additionally, the presence of multiple circuits among the electrodes
provides the latch with simultaneous capacity also to exchange power and
communicate data between modules. These features make the device suitable for
lattice-style robots in both nanotechnology (micro-scale) and macroscale
applications.
In its electrical design, the electrostatic latch uses the closely spaced plates of
a parallel capacitor, which generate an electrostatic force to attract each other when
the capacitor is charged. After the latch closes, residual charge maintains the latch
indefinitely. A thin dielectric film on each conductive plate provides insulation.
Employing capacitive coupling, the latch adheres with a force of 0.6
2
N/cm while requiring almost zero static power to maintain the force after the latch
forms. A specific degree of flexibility in the electrodes maximizes the mutual
coupling of electrodes. Electrodes that are too rigid or too flexible do not provide an
adequate level of latch performance.
Moreover, the electrodes create multiple circuits, which allow transmission
of power and data for communication between modules. This design serves several
functions within the robotic module and enables a level of efficiency that reduces
requirements for total weight, volume and complexity. This design feature thus
yields simpler paths to performance and scaling goals in robotic modules.
The factor that enables electrostatic adhesion to be effective at the macroscale
is an interface for the electric field that also creates a shear force from mechanical
friction. A combination of electrostatic and shear forces results from the alignment.
Currently, the electrostatic latch is being tested on a modular Cube that is 28
cm on a side.
1.9 Stochastic Catoms

A concept being tested in the Carnegie Mellon-Intel Claytronics Research
Project is the use of stochastic reconfiguration in ensembles of modular robots. In
this mode of reconfiguration, the module relies on random motion and follows
unmapped paths to gain in the ensemble a position where it can determine its exact
location and contribute its form to the overall structure.
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Depending upon the scale of the device, actuation of the module 's motion
can be created with various sources of energy, including currents of air, electrostatics
or, in the case of a study of the phenomenon during Andrew 's Leap, Carnegie Mellon
's summer enrichment program, the propelling motion of high school students
throwing helium-filled balloons.
From such forces, a module derives an initially incoherent motion that causes
random contacts with other modules. In these contacts, the module evaluates the
appropriateness of forming a connection with the other module. The module makes
its decision by evaluating the relation of its form in the instance of the contact location
to the ensemble 's overall goal for a predetermined shape. Based on this evaluation,
the module either forms a bond or continues in motion.
To demonstrate the applicability of stochastic reconfiguration to modular
robots, the Andrew 's Leap students constructed an ensemble of Mylar balloons in
the shape of cubes, each approximately 1/2 meter on a side. They also created a
lightweight electronic module to support each catom 's functionality as well as simple
latches for the faces of each cube to provide a means of data exchange and attachment
among catoms. To create bouyancy, each catom was filled with helium.
Computations within the electronic module follow a simple program, known as a
graph grammar, which enables each stochastic catom independently to determine its
location in relation to other catoms in the ensemble - and in relation to a
predetermined shape into which the catoms locate their positions from random
motion.
Localizing its position while in contact with other catoms, a catom either
engages its electrostatic latch in order to bind to an adjacent robot or signals for
separation and further stochastic motion until it identifies a location where it will
contribute to the desired global shape.
As a type of swarm behavior conceived for nano-scale robots, stochastic
motion among catoms would draw upon mathematical probability whose effective
potential to shape forms would increase with greater numbers of smaller-scale
modules.
While the student technologists worked with a few large-scale, low-mass
modules, they were able to test algorithms that implemented valid steps for the
sorting of random associations among catoms. They were also successful in the
design of latches that enabled catoms to exchange data, localize positions within an
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ensemble and determine the appropriateness of connections with randomlyencountered catoms to the goal-shape desired for the ensemble.
With the students ' specific contribution to the Carnegie Mellon-Intel

Claytronics Research Project of a first generation of stochastic catoms, the Andrew 's
Leap project also introduced a group of aspiring technologists to cutting-edge ideas
in modular robotics. This achievement is in keeping with the overall goal of the
research collaboration, which seeks not only to create the basic research for
engineering claytronics but also to excite the imaginations of a new generation of
technologists and researchers in the frontiers of computer science, electrical
engineering, nanotechnology and robotics.
As participants in Andrew 's Leap, the high school students working on the
stochastic catom team learned step-by-step analysis of algorithm design and
programmed solutions, rudiments of the integration of electro-mechanical systems
and computation, the engineering of simple electrostatic devices and perhaps the
most basic lesson of all, that complex science and engineering problems can be
explored with materials that are as simple to assemble as balsa wood, aluminum foil,
plastic and Mylar. Indeed, with such materials, they helped to inaugurate a new
domain of claytronics research -- the investigation of random motion as a basis for
the actuation of catoms in an ensemble.
Video segments at right present the students ' demonstration of the Andrew
's Leap project and a segment of balloon velocity testing. In addition, a brief
animation presents a simulation of stochastic motion among thousands of submillimeter robotic modules deployed in a system of self-assembly for
nanotechnology. An abbreviated demonstration of self-assembly employing graph
grammar can also be seen.
1.10 Giant Helium Catoms

Big Surfaces to Manipulate Tiny Forces
A Giant Helium Catom (GHC) measures eight cubic meters when its light
Mylar skin fills with helium to acquire a lifting force of approximately 5.6
kilograms. This lift is necessary to elevate a frame of carbon fiber rods and plastic
joints, which contains the balloon and carries electronic sensors and a communication
package to actuate the catom 's motion and engage it with other GHCs. The roughly
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square balloon is constructed with edge dimensions of approximately 1.9 meters
from 4 meter X 1 meter sheets of Mylar. Each balloon uses four sheets of this
material.
The Giant Helium Catom provides researchers a macroscale instrument to

investigate physical forces that affect microscale devices. The GHC was designed to
approximate the relationship between a near-zero-mass (or weightless) 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 on the engineering
of interfaces for nanoscale devices.
In addition to its role as a test-bed for nanoscale surface tensions, the great
helium catom also offers a prototype design for a low-mass system of robotic selfassembly that can be used at life-scale in solar system travel. Because of its very low
mass, it was conceived also as a macroscale construction system for delivery by space
craft. Such a system would deploy dwellings and workstations on the Moon and the
planet Mars in advance of astronauts who would occupy the pre-constructed stations
for long-term exploration and interplanetary travel.
On each face, the GHC cube carries a novel electrostatic latching system that
enables the device to move across the faces of other catoms and to communicate with
them. The design for this latch system centers on a thin aluminum foil flap across
each of the 12 edges of the Mylar cube. This is essentially a square that crosses each
of the catom 's edges on a diagonal in order to create two triangular flaps lying at a
right angle to each other against the two adjacent surfaces of the catom. With this
arrangement, each surface of the catom has four triangular flaps with peaks pointed
toward the center of the face.
Among the six faces, the triangular flaps provide each catom with the means
to form an electrostatic latch with another cube from 24 positions - providing the
cubes with a capacity to move at right angles in any direction. In addition to motion,
the latches also equip the GHC with the means to communicate across the ensemble
of catoms. In the drawing below, one Giant Helium Catom pivots across the surface
of another, revealing the positions and attachments of triangular electrostatic flaps.
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CLAYTRONICS
Two electrodes on each flap create the electrostatic forces that enable latches
to form a capacitive couple between flaps on adjacent GHCs. A dielectric material
(Mylar) isolates the pair of electrodes (and electrical charges from them) on each flap
to prevent their direct electrical contact. This design enables voltage differences
applied to the electrodes to accumulate charges, create electrostatic force on the flap
and align with electrodes that carry an opposing charge on the flap of an adjacent
GHC.
Each flap moves independently with the assistance of a spring-loaded
mechanism and a composite shape-memory alloy (SMA). GHCs deliver power to
each other using capacitive coupling with alternating current (AC). The AC power
generated at the neighboring catom is rectified and regulated, and the resulting DC
power is used for processing and other electronics on the module. A high-voltage
generator creates the electrostatic force to activate the latches.
Although the project planned to construct six giant helium catoms to
simulate an ensemble, in its 3-month duration, this experiment tested this interface
on two catoms.
Experience with this design provided the Carnegie Mellon-Intel Claytronics
Research Project with substantial experience in the design characteristics of micro-electromechanical
latches.
2. Software Research
2.1 Distributed Computing in Claytronics
In a domain of research defined by many of the greatest challenges facing
computer scientists and roboticists today, perhaps none is greater than the creation
of algorithms and programming language to organize the actions of millions of submillimeter scale catoms in a claytronics ensemble.
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CLAYTRONICS
As a consequence, the research scientists and engineers of the Carnegie
Mellon-Intel Claytronics Research Program have formulated a very broad-based and
in-depth research program to develop a complete structure of software resources for
the creation and operation of the densely distributed network of robotic nodes in a
claytronic matrix.
A notable characteristic of a claytronic matrix is its huge concentration of
computational power within a small space. For example, an ensemble of catoms with
a physical volume of one cubic meter could contain 1 billion catoms. Computing in
parallel, these tiny robots would provide unprecedented computing capacity within
a space not much larger than a standard packing container. This arrangement of
computing capacity creates a challenging new programming environment for
authors of software.
A representation of a matrix of approximately 20,000 catoms can be seen in
the left frame of the illustration at the top of this column. Because of its vast number
of individual computing nodes, the matrix invites comparison with the worldwide
reservoir of computing resources connected through the Internet, a medium that not
only distributes data around the globe but also enables nodes on the network to share
work from remote locations. The physical concentration of millions of computing
nodes in the small space of a claytronic ensemble thus suggests for it the metaphor
of an Internet that sits on a desk.
2.2 An Internet in a Box Only Generally Speaking

Comparison with the Internet, however, does not represent much of the
novel complexity of a claytronic ensemble. For example, a matrix of catoms will not
have wires and unique addresses -- which in cyberspace provide fixed paths on
which data travels between computers. Without wires to tether them, the atomized
nodes of a claytronic matrix will operate in a state of constant flux. The consequences
of computing in a network without wires and addresses for individual nodes are
significant and largely unfamiliar to the current operations of network technology.
Languages to program a matrix require a more abbreviated syntax and style
of command than the lengthy instructions that widely used network languages such
as C++ and Java employ when translating data for computers linked to the
Internet. Such widely used programming languages work in a network environment
where paths between computing nodes can be clearly flagged for the transmission of
instructions while the computers remain under the control of individual operators
and function with a high degree of independence behind their links to the network.
In contrast to that tightly linked 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 concentrated and physically dynamic network of unwired nodes that create
connections by rotating contacts with the closest neighbors. The architecture of this
programming realm requires not only instructions that move packets of data through
unstable channels. Matrix software must also actuate the constant change in the
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CLAYTRONICS
physical locations of the anonymous nodes while they are transferring the data
through the network.
2.3 For the Nodes, Its All about Cooperation

In this environment, the processes of each individual catom must be entirely
dedicated to the operational goal of the matrix which is the formation of dynamic,
3-dimensional shapes. Yet, given the vast number of nodes, the matrix cannot
dedicate its global resources to the micro-management of each catom. Thus, every
catom must achieve a state of self-actuation in cooperation with its immediate
neighbors, and that modality of local cooperation must radiate through the matrix.
Software language for the matrix must convey concise statements of highlevel commands in order to be universally distributed. For this purpose, it must
possess an economy of syntax that is uncommon among software languages. In place
of detailed commands for individual nodes, it must state the conditions toward
which the nodes will direct their motion in local groups. In this way, catoms will
organize collective actions that gravitate toward the higher-level goals of the
ensemble.
2.4 A Seamless Ensemble of Form and Functionality

By providing a design to focus constructive rearrangements of individual
nodes, software for the matrix will motivate local cooperation among groups of
catoms. This protocol reflects a seamless union between form and functionality in
the actuation of catoms. It also underscores the opportunity for high levels of
creativity in the design of software for the matrix environment, which manipulates
the physical architecture of this robotic medium while directing information through
it.
In a hexagonal stacking arrangement, for example, rows of catoms in one
layer rest within the slight concavities of catom layers above and below them. That
placement gives each catom direct communication with as many as 12 other
catoms. Such dynamic groupings provide the stage upon which to program catom
motion within local areas of the matrix. Such collective actuation will transform the
claytronic matrix into the realistic representations of original objects.
3. Claytronics Software
3.1 The Research Program
In the Carnegie Mellon-Intel Claytronics Software Lab, researchers address
several areas of software development, which are described in this section of the
website.
3.1.1 Programming Languages
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CLAYTRONICS
Researchers in the Claytronics project have also created Meld and
LDP. These new languages for declarative programming provide compact linguistic
structures for cooperative management of the motion of millions of modules in a
matrix. The center panel above shows a simulation of Meld in which modules in the
matrix have been instructed with a very few lines of highly condensed code to swarm
toward a target.
3.1.2 Integrated Debugging

In directing the work of the thousands to millions of individual computing
devices in an ensemble, claytronics research also anticipates the inevitability of
performance errors and system dysfunctions. Such an intense computational
environment requires a comparably dynamic and self-directed process for
identifying and debugging errors in the execution of programs. One result is a
program known as Distributed Watch Points, represented in the snapshot in the right
panel below.
3.1.3 Shape Sculpting

The team's extensive work on catom motion, collective actuation and
hierarchical motion planning addresses the need for algorithms that convert groups
of catoms into primary structures for building dynamic, 3-dimensional
representations. Such structures work in a way that can be compared to the muscles,
bones and tissues of organic systems. In claytronics, this special class of algorithms
will enable the matrix to work with templates suitable to the representations it
renders. In this aspect of claytronics development, researchers develop algorithms
that will give structural strength and fluid movement to dynamic forms. Snapshots
from the simulation of these studies can be seen in the right-side panel at the top of
this column and in the left-side panel below.
3.1.4 Localization
The teams software researchers are also creating algorithms that enable
catoms to localize their positions among thousands to millions of other catoms in an
ensemble. This relational knowledge of individual catoms to the whole matrix is
fundamental to the organization and management of catom groups and the
formation of cohesive and fluid shapes throughout the matrix. A pictorial context for
examining the dynamics of localization is represented by the snapshot of the elephant
simulated in the center panel of images below.
3.1.5 Dynamic Simulation
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CLAYTRONICS
As a first step in developing software to program a claytronic ensemble, the
team created DPR-Simulator, a tool that permits researchers to model, test and
visualize the behavior of catoms. The simulator creates a world in which catoms take
on the characteristics that researchers wish to observe. A Linux-based modeling tool,
DPRSim can be downloaded from the website of the Intel Pittsburgh Lab.
The simulated world of DPRSim manifests characteristics that are crucial to
understanding the real-time performance of claytronic ensembles. Most important,
the activities of catoms in the simulator are governed by laws of the physical
universe. Thus simulated catoms reflect the natural effects of gravity, electrical and
magnetic forces and other phenomena that will determine the behavior of these
devices in reality. DPRSim also provides a visual display that allows researchers to
observe the behavior of groups of catoms. In this context, DPRSim allows researchers
to model conditions under which they wish to test actions of catoms. At the top and
bottom of this column, images present snapshots from simulations of programs
generated through DPRSim. Videos from simulations can be seen on other pages of
this site.
3.2 Programming Language for Claytronic Ensembles

The Motion of Each Node Is the Object of the Program
For more than a half-century, computer programming languages have
evolved many branches to address the accelerating growth in the power of computers
and changes in machine configuration to manage information moving through
complex networks.
One measure then of the scope of innovation posed by
claytronics can be seen in its requirement for a new branch of programming language
to enable communication within a distributed network of millions of modular robots.
This makes the development of programming languages to control the highly
innovative form of distributed computing implemented for a claytronics ensemble a
key focus of investigation for the Carnegie Mellon-Intel Claytronics Research Project.
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CLAYTRONICS
The landscape of systems nanotechnology to which claytronics introduces

the programmer presents a largely unexplored architecture for the use of computing
machines. The structure of its vast distributed network features an enormous
capacity for parallel computing. A unique feature of this structure is enormous
processing power in a confined space. The intimate relationship among many tiny
yet powerful computing machines accentuates a compelling novelty in the style of
programming for a claytronics ensemble.
While evolution thus far in programming languages has coaxed machines
and networks to greater change of internal status, the purpose of programming in
claytronics is to achieve changes in the external status of the machines
themselves. The point of the programming is to translate commands into the motion
of each machine in its relationship to every other machine. Programming thus
evolves in claytronics from the objective of moving information through static and
fixed networks into communication that commands a new dimension in the
expressions of computing machines. From the powerfully confined space of a
claytronics ensemble, programming languages begin to explore the largely untapped
structural fluidity of millions of tiny robotic modules, which combine their responses
to the programmer 's instructions to express a desired state of communication in 3dimensional space.
To further this evolution in the language of computer programmers, the
Carnegie Mellon-Intel Claytronics Research Project in this early stage of its work has
created the basis for the evolution of two new programming languages.
3.2.1 Meld
Meld addresses the need to write computer code for an ensemble of robots
from a global perspective, enabling the programmer to concentrate on the overall
performance of the matrix while finessing the resource-consuming alternative of
writing individual instructions for every one of the thousands to millions of catoms
in the ensemble. This form of logical programming represents a heuristic solution
to the challenge of controlling the action of such a great number of individual
computing nodes.
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CLAYTRONICS
Meld employs a declarative language that has roots in the logic of P2, a
language created for the management of static, overlay networks that share
information from many sources of traffic. Although P2 evolved for networks with a
static topology, Meld extends its programming logic to control motion among robotic
modules in claytronic ensembles.
Concise Instructions to More Machines

From a resource standpoint, as measured in many fewer lines of code, Meld is a
language whose programs produce results comparable to programs that are from 20
to 30 times longer when written in C++. This efficiency yields a substantial economy
of scale in the operational time and reliability of the matrix. It also reduces the time
a programmer needs to write the code.
Meld provides a reliable paradigm for efficiency in the actuation of
cooperative motion among millions of nano-scale robots. It does this by declaring
positions that individual robots achieve within clusters by common rules for direct
contact. Meld manages motion as a continuous process of rule-solving. Each robot
engages its contacts until it satisfies all rules it can declare about its physical
relationship.
The rules of Meld engage each module in a proving of facts. The facts
stipulate a robot s position in relation to neighboring modules. In effect, this rulemaking provides a map for motion. Applying the rules, a catom achieves a final
position when all rules are satisfied. By their nature, the rules enforce cooperative
motions that build the global design of the 3-dimensional object that the ensemble is
programmed to represent.
The logic of proof, which follows from a meldian declaration of positions,
results in cooperative motions.
This procedure yields the important result of
reducing erroneous moves, such as blocking the motion of neighboring modules or
moving modules into isolated or untenable positions, which threaten the stability and
integrity of the matrix.
Meld enforces rules by requiring existence of a direct connection between
neighboring modules before a fact can be recognized as satisfied. In effect, this
means that every fact and every rule relate first to the location of modules.
This programming of direct relationships among catoms establishes a
context in which particular nodes share facts. The topology of these relationships
narrows the field of information and facts. In this framework, the language actuates
the motion of an individual module. At the same time, it enables the declaration of
a general state of network topology. Thus, large numbers of modules can test and
satisfy the declaration.
The process of rule testing is continuous and widely
distributed. Every individual robot receives necessary facts to determine whether it
has satisfied rules governing its location. At all times, every robot remains in a state
of motion or readiness to move.
The evaluation of rules in the ensemble is
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CLAYTRONICS
tireless. Each catom continues to evaluate its position in relation to a next best move
-- even after it has stopped moving.
Another way of characterizing this dynamic aspect of declarative program is
to recognize that rules for combining facts produce new facts that continue to be
proven until all rules of proof have been satisfied. Because most if not all baseline
facts state the locations of individual modules in relative positions, the rules drive
the proofs until final positions represent the global shape desired for the ensemble.
Revising History the Meld Way

Motion in the matrix also has a dynamic effect on the quality of historical facts, which
are wedded to relative past positions. Because the process of satisfying rules
continues, new positions frequently render previously true facts to be false,
particularly when prior truths declare the locations of neighboring
robots. Obviously, the lingering profile of prior positions that hold no future veracity
would be rife with error if used in new declarations, just as their presence also wastes
space
in
the
physical
memory
of
an
ongoing
process.
Meld dismisses old truths that have become false. The program not only deletes no
longer true facts. It also erases all prior facts derived from them. With this scrubbing
routine, Meld s linguistic process constantly refreshes the information upon which
the
matrix
shapes
its
design.
The programming of motion in Meld enables each robot to actuate with a cooperative
relationship to the planned design of the matrix. It motivates individual modules to
move in relation to other modules into positions that support the global result.
As a language for programming modular robots, Meld provides an efficient
logic for writing programs and a linguistic structure suited to the matrix. At the
same time, its interpretation of this programming environment concentrates on the
topology of the ensemble and the base facts related to the location of modules
through data from sensors on the devices. An important result is the avoidance of
false moves that confuse neighboring modules or isolate a module after it moves.
In this heuristic, Meld also yields an extensive view of the status of the
matrix, a set of base facts that contributes to insight about the overall operation while
opening approaches to debugging. Because states other than motion will be modeled
as the architecture of the matrix develops, the utility of Meld will be evaluated further
in relation to its adaptability as a structure for program logic that can structure
changes that extend beyond the current definitions of base facts, which it has
demonstrated a capacity to manage.
3.2.2 Locally Distributed Predicates (LDP)
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CLAYTRONICS
While Meld approaches the management of the matrix from the perspective
of logic programming, LDP employs distributive pattern matching. As a further
development of program languages for the matrix, LDP, which stands for Locally
Distributed Predicates, provides a means of matching distributed patterns. This tool
enables the programmer to address a larger set of variables with Boolean logic that
matches paired conditions and enables the program to search for larger patterns of
activity and behavior among groups of modules in the matrix.
`While addressing variable conditions related to time, topology and the
status of modules, LDP triggers specific actions in parallel with other expressions
governing local groups of modules. A reactive language, LDP grows from earlier
research into the analysis of distributed local conditions, which has been used to
trigger debugging protocols. From this base, LDP adds language that enables the
programmer to build operations that can be used for more general purposes in the
development of the shape of the matrix.
LDP shares with Meld the achievement of dramatically shorter code, the
automatic distribution of the program through the matrix and automatic messaging
about conditions in the matrix.
As it originates in the research to evaluate conditions throughout the
ensemble, its strength is in detection and description of distributed conditions. From
this perspective, it programs locally, focusing upon a bounded number of modules
in contact groups while basing its predicates upon Boolean (if, then) expressions,
which expand the basic set of variables that the programmer can manage throughout
the matrix.
3.3 Programming Claytronics with Meld

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 psuedo 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
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CLAYTRONICS
the inherent fault-tolerance 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.
3.4 Performance Evaluation of Meld

Development of distributed and parallel programs requires efficient
simulation tools that can be used during all steps of the development cycle. More
precisely, simulation is particularly useful when the execution platform does not exist
yet or simply when it does not scale up to the number of requested processing units,
which is particularly true in the Claytronics project.
Performance bottlenecks are still difficult to detect. On the one hand, tracing
an execution on the Blinky Blocks hardware faces a number of problems: scarcity of
memory resources prevents logging of performance data, and the execution is likely
to be affected if traces are sent to an external storage resource via a central point. Also,
a special API would need to be developed as standard performance tuning and
tracing frameworks cannot be used on the Blinky Blocks hardware.
On the other hand, the Blinky Blocks simulator and DPRSim actually execute
the Meld programs but simulate communications and the physical environment. This
means that the simulated time of a Meld program does not match the real execution
time as embedded processors are much slower than generic CPUs.
Therefore, performance metrics cannot be derived from the simulation. Also,
the control flow of a simulated application can mismatch a real execution as, for
example, during a simulation, messages can be read before they would have been
received during a real execution.
This part of the Claytronics project aims to add performance metrics to the
Blinky Blocks Simulator as well as DPRSim to ease performance tuning of the
compiler and improve the virtual machine as well as Meld programs. We are using a
two-step approach: first, every Meld operation is benchmarked on the Blinky Blocks
hardware platform, second these performance data are fed back into the simulators.
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CLAYTRONICS
They will be used to eventually modify the control flow of the program, to match a
real execution and also to report performance metrics of the Meld application.
3.5 Programming Claytronics with Locally Distributed Predicates

(LDP)
Locally Distributed Predicates (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 distributed configurations, 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 traditional 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 programming idioms. LDP has been used to
implement several motion planning algorithms, as well as a variety of low-level
utilities such as gradient fields and distributed aggregation.
3.6 Localization
Determining module locations from noisy observations
One of the first tasks for a modular robot is to understand where its modules
are located relative of one to another. This knowledge is very useful: For example,
motion planning and control will often shift many modules from one location to
another, and knowing the module locations helps robot properly allocate the
resources. The knowledge of module locations will also be useful to identify a human
user.
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CLAYTRONICS
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, such as short-range IR sensors. Unlike many other
systems, a modular robot may not have access to long distance measurements, such
as wireless radio or GPS. Furthermore, the robot's modules will often form irregular,
non-lattice structures. Therefore, the robot needs to employ sophisticated
probabilistic techniques to estimate the location of each its module from noisy data.
Our contribution is an algorithm that lets the modules estimate their
locations in a fully distributed manner. The algorithm has a number of attractive
properties: It can handle errors that arise from uncertain observations. As we scale
the ensemble to increasingly finer resolutions, the accuracy of the localization
remains roughly constant. Furthermore, the algorithm is sufficiently simple that it
permits a distributed implementation. Therefore, the locations are estimated directly
by the modules themselves, without relying on an external, centralized processing
unit.
On the technical side, our algorithm leverages two insights. 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. Importantly, the ensemble is split in such a way that the partial solutions
do not accumulate too much error. Thus, when the partial solutions are merged, the
algorithm only needs to exercise a minimal effort to compute an accurate overall
solution.
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. In our case, many operations in the algorithm
are implemented by communicating aggregate statistics about progressively larger
parts of the ensemble. In this manner, the communication complexity of our
algorithm scales logarithmically with the size of the ensemble.
3.7 Dynamic Simulation of Claytronic Ensembles

Visualizing the Invisible While Realizing the Unreal
Long before the first ensemble of a million catoms can be created, the
designing of these never-before constructed robotic modules and testing of their
performance in real-world conditions must occur. For this purpose, the research
team assembled by Carnegie Mellon and Intel to create claytronics technology,
created the Dynamic Physical Rendering Simulator or DPRSim at the Intel Pittsburgh
Research Lab on the Carnegie Mellon campus.
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CLAYTRONICS
A first of its kind software program for the conceptual testing and
visualization of multi-thousand robot ensembles, DPRSim operates as a Linux-based
system on desktop computers. It is available as open source software with a tutorial
on the website of Intel 's Pittsburgh Lab. DPRSim has become the primary tool of
the Carnegie Mellon-Intel Claytronics Research Project for observing real-time
performance when designing, testing and debugging modular robots in claytronic
ensembles.
Demonstrating the validity of claytronics requires extensive observation of
cooperative behaviors among nanoscale modular robots. The research task is made
uniquely challenging by the absence of physical prototypes that can serve as
demonstration platforms for these tiny devices, which are no larger than a grain of
sand.
Between concept and engineering conception, there is the need for extensive
trial and error with real devices, and, necessarily, that testing of concept requires very
clear representations of a vast number of effects in a tiny world that cannot be directly
observed.
3.7.1 Big Window on A Tiny World

DPRSim provides the bridge between imagination and reality by enabling
researchers to create models of claytronic ensembles that operate in a software
environment that fully replicates the forces that will affect the behavior of these
devices during real world operations.
As a computing platform that is able to run many programs at the same time,
DPRSim enables the researcher to program and control the performance of individual
catoms. In effect, the simulator opens a visual window onto the behavior of every
tiny module. Thus, it reveals the full complexity of parallel processing in a claytronics
ensemble.
In a domain of thusands of active computing nodes, where each
individual catom may be running more than one thread of instruction, the DPR
simulator provides the means to activate all catoms under real-life conditions.
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CLAYTRONICS
Its run-time record captures all ensemble events in both video and text
formats, making DPRSim an unusually powerful tool for debugging as well as
modelling. While providing a platform for programming the internal computing
capacity of individual catoms, DPRSim incorporates software drivers for physical
phenomena such as power flow, magnetics, gravity and friction.
From this
performance, DPRSim also captures movies to record its simulations.
3.7.2 Desktop Control for Hundreds of Thousands of Computing

Nodes
Developed to run from desktop (and laptop) computers, DPRSim models the
complex interactions of catoms in numbers that simulate the order of magnitude that
will be characteristic of operational ensembles (512,000 catoms on a single processor
machine or up to a million on parallel processors). Modeling these complex nanoscale
behaviors, DPRSim projects a real-time visual display that enables an observer to
witness the behavior of the sub-millimeter catoms as they are changing states
thorough the complete run of the test.
As it enables researchers to observe and track the performance of algorithms
and software programs to control the actions of otherwise unobservable catoms in a
claytronics ensemble, DPR Sim has become the essential tool for translating the
visionary concept of dynamic, 3-D physical renderings into viable ensembles of
millions of nanoscale catoms in the real world. Moreover, a tool that operates with a
real-time perpsective on the operating state of every individual unit in the claytronics
ensemble, DPRSim offers a version of the dynamic dashboard tools that will integrate
the operations of hardware and software in real-life versions of claytronic ensembles.
3.8 Aggregate Engineering - Compiling Ensemble-level Specifications

into Catom-level Instructions
The practical use of Claytronics requires that we deal with ensembles at a
high level; programming individual catoms is like coding all of Windows in
assembly. Engineers will need a convenient way to specify aggregate behavior, and
tools that can compile these specs into programs for each catom. The code must be
robust to component failure, hardware irregularities and other engineering concerns.
Ensembles must operate at reasonable time scales. The techniques must carry over to
future versions of the hardware. And finally, the set of programmable phenomena
must be rich enough for the wide range of uses to which Claytronics will be put.
An analogy is found in gases, where properties like pressure and
temperature function as `ùniversal knobs'' that specify large-scale behavior and are
governed by the ideal gas law. Similarly, Claytronics engineers should be able to
specify ``sphere with radius = 3. Now double the radius'', or ``create the shape in file
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CLAYTRONICS
human.cly. No, make it taller than that''. We want to design, from first principles,
ensembles with the `ùniversal knobs'' needed for applications, and to understand
the laws that govern them.
This is no small task; applications will involve dozens to thousands of
parameters, and reverse-engineering them is far harder than ground-up approaches.
So in pursuit of the overarching goal, we are starting smaller. Simple solids like
spheres and regular polyhedra are highly symmetrical and can be easily described
using mathematics; we seek algorithms which will form Claytronic matter into these
shapes while meeting the necessary criteria for robustness and generality. Common
patterns in these algorithms will point the way to general rules underlying the
`ùniversal knobs'' that will be needed in the future. Starting from these smaller
problems, we seek to lay the foundation for all aggregate Claytronic programming.
3.9 Integrated Debugging

Finding the Hex among a Million Robotic Modules
In programming modular robots to create dynamic, 3-dimensional
representations, the Carnegie Mellon-Intel Claytronics Research Project also
anticipates a less enchanting probability for software programmers whose coded
instructions will shape the actions of metamorphic robots. While harnessing millions
of tiny computers interpreting billions of instructions on parallel threads, claytronics
will open the gates to a greater number of bugs that can add a hex to coded
instructions, multiplying opportunities for coded devices to go awry. Moreover, as
a unique environment for co-dependent computation, claytronics also can create
operations where new types of bugs develop.
3.9.1 More Places for Bugs to Hide

This scale of interdependent computing in claytronics creates many more
processes where bugs can hide. The numbers of actuating robots will make claytronic
ensembles rife with occasion where program instructions might produce
misalignments among devices or inappropriate actions. Each module will carry its
own stream of instructions, often more than one at a time. These threads will move
in parallel with similar programs in every other module. From module to module,
threads will mingle, and these convergences of coding in a mega-threaded realm will
dramatically increase the probability of tangles or other subtle, unforeseen
interactions among strings of instruction. Such is the likelihood of glitches common
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for the course of software development - expanded to the scale that claytronics brings
to the realm of parallel and distributed computing.
3.9.2 New Varieties of Bugs

In the processes that drive metamorphic robots, devices that create structures
and transform shapes, the potential for unfamiliar types of errors also exist. New
processes invite new bugs that scatter a species of confusing redundancy in the
execution of code. So claytronics research has also implemented a program to detect
and correct errors that create a state of conflict spread across multiple catoms that
appear by individual status to have executed a program correctly.
To address the requirements for debugging to match the scale of computing
in an ensemble, claytronics researchers are developing tools and strategies that scale
up the bug patrol for massively parallel, widely distributed computation tied to the
actuation of robotic devices. DPRSim, the basic simulation program used to model
the performance of claytronic ensembles, is also a versatile tool for the integrated
debugging of large ensembles of modular robots, one that provides programmers
with a rich visual context in which to track bugs.
DPRSimulation empowers strategies for writing program code that
incorporates macros to capture complete histories of change to critical groups of
variables. Such macros monitor the performance of key variables, such as scalar
values and object classes, and preserve their runtime histories in a SQL database that
a programmer can rapidly reconstruct when it is necessary to track the path of errors.
The visualization of the path of error in the simulator 's replay of events makes the
search for programming error much easier. In DPRSim, a programmer can scan the
execution of individual programming threads from both two-dimensional and threedimensional perspectives in order to trace errors to root causes.
The multi-dimensioning of searches for program errors is a powerful feature
of simulation-enhanced debugging. However, that enhancement becomes all the
more powerful because the programmer can review the complete histories of code
threads associated with each catom in an ensemble.
Complete historical review is a great improvement to the context for
debugging typically available to programmers, who more often must draw
reconstructions from snapshots captured at intervals of a program 's performance
and then attempt to interpolate missing details. Through the replay of simulation, the
history provides the programmer with not only the record of events tied to key
variables but also a visual representation of events tied to individual catoms. The
performances of individual catoms can also be highlighted by color to mark locations
and textual labels to append notes. They can also be isolated visually within a
transparent surrounding that eliminates the clutter of catoms superfluous to an
investigation.
With claytronics researchers writing programs for simultaneous processing
by 50,000 to 500,000 modules, each catom executing one or more threads of coded
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CLAYTRONICS
programming, this retooling of the debugging process has become a necessity although one that is relevant beyond the applications of claytronics technology. With
forensic simulation, a programmer can much more easily and quickly reconstruct
root causes of the coding and algorithmic errors that compromise smooth operations
in a mega-threaded environment. The visualization of records permits a dramatic
scaling upward of error searches and speeds recovery of essential information. The
process reduces the time of investigations while rewarding focused inquiries with
increasing levels of relevant information.
3.9.3 Distributed Watchpoints

A more challenging error can arise when modules in a group properly
execute their individual processes yet do not place the group in an intended global
state. In this outcome, the error may be said to be distributed because it is not clear
that any individual module has failed to properly execute its commands. However,
the group has failed to achieve a desired configuration. The result is a condition that
cannot be observed in the local state of one robot, and traditional debugging
strategies do not easily detect this variety of error.
Such a condition might exist, for example, when seven modules require one
among them to be designated as a leader of future group motion. Two robots might
execute simultaneously on that requirement and create two leaders, a state that
would impair the ability of the group to coordinate its actions with surrounding
groups. Traditional debugging tools would probably not detect this new species of
bug. They would be more likely to follow the path of programming threads as
executed by the individual modules. Such an analysis would determine that
hardware performed as it should and that each module properly executed its thread
of programming.
Thus, to find bugs whose effects are distributed across the status of several
catoms, claytronics researchers have developed Distributed Watchpoints, an
algorithm-level approach to detecting and fixing conditions that need to be resolved
in order for the ensemble to engage properly the related status of multiple catoms in
appropriate sequences. Early examples of this class of error have focused on such
issues as leader elections among groups of catoms, token passing for permissions to
move data through the network, and the smoothing of gradient values spread across
catom clusters.
Watch Points establish the 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 missed by more conventional debugging techniques. The
approach will continue to be implemented with the development of additional
functions and further validation.
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CLAYTRONICS
3.10 Shape Sculpting in Claytronics
Lifting Catoms into the 3 RD Dimension
Creating dynamic motion in 3-D poses the ultimate goal of the Carnegie
Mellon-Intel Claytronics Research Project.
A claytronics designer might demonstrate the complexity of this challenge of
forming 3-dimensional objects from millions of robotic catoms, each less than a
millimeter in diameter, by presenting an ensemble of these tiny spherical devices laid
side-by-side on a flat surface. This arrangement would present a 2-dimensional
square, approximately a meter on each side. This is the organized position that an
ensemble could assume before the application of any external forces. How then to
give it a 3-D shape?
With a flow of power into the ensemble, the sensors of adjacent catoms could
induce an electrostatic alignment or latching effect to increase the hold of one catom
to another across this million-member network of distributed computing devices.
With the fine grain particularity of each individual catom, the charge in the
ensemble might enhance colors and shadings across the pixilated surface of each
catom to induce subtle lines and surface perspectives that would appear with the
activation of the individual voxels -- in much the same way that pixels activate
images on a video screen.
In this state, moreover, each catom would possess sufficient microprocessing
capacity to implement algorithms that instruct the device to localize its position in
relation to other catoms. This information would enable each catom to initiate
motion and change its alignment with adjacent catoms until the tiny spheres reach
other locations. Thus, the ensemble would reshape as it creates a new contour in a
boundary line or opens a void inside its boundary while still lying flat.
3.10.1 The Ensemble Rises

All of these changes in form depend for visual effect upon the number of
catoms actuated across the length and width of the ensemble. Yet the state of
actuation described thus far, even as it demonstrates important advances in
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CLAYTRONICS
distributed computing, nanotechnology and modular robotics, would also highlight
the greater challenge of attaining a 3-dimensional perspective -- in which catoms
would rise from the flat surface to represent not only the outline but also the volume
and motion of a fully-shaped object, animal or person.
To gather height and volume from the array of a million catoms lying
alongside each other within a level plane, the ensemble must not only overcome the
resistance of local inertia but also mass sufficient internal force to oppose gravity -perhaps the most difficult challenge facing claytronic algorithm designers.
Thus far, in this demonstration of the capacity of self-actuating modular
robots, the claytronic architect works with forces that can be manipulated with the
mass of two catoms sharing equal amounts of work. The catoms generate motion,
for example, by employing their round shapes to form a simple lever between them,
one that exchanges a small electrostatic force across matching sensors to create a
rotational (or kinetic) force, which is sufficient to shift the mass of one catom around
the pivot point of its spherical shape. Balanced between individual catoms, this force
is sufficient to move any catom on a flat surface to any position within an ensemble.
To rise above the level plane, however, the ensemble must multiply its catom
forces (the mass of a single catom plus the electrostatic energy that each device can
carry) to overcome gravitational force, which increases resistance by the mass of
catoms needed to form a specific shape in the 3rd dimension. Thus, to accomplish
the lifting of more than one catom, the ensemble needs the algorithmic equivalent of
ropes and pulleys in order to lift multiple catoms and build a taller structure.
3.10.2 Cranes and Joints for Ensemble Construction

Such multipliers of catom forces can also be thought of as the analogs of
cranes at construction sites or muscles and joints in the bodies of animals. As
groupings of catoms directed by algorithms, these concentrated patterns of catom
motion become the mechanisms for building complex and stable 3-dimensional
shapes and providing those shapes with a means to sustain stable motion against the
active resistance of gravity.
Creating leverage to move amassed components into a complex structure is
a familiar issue in construction engineering. However, software engineers have
much less experience with this challenge than do other engineering disciplines. So
development of algorithms that create leverage to perform physical work at the scale
of claytronic devices represents not only the creation of a tool that is valuable to this
new technology. It also creates an important intellectual product from this research
that benefits a larger domain of applied engineering.
3.10.3 Many Dimensions of Claytronics Software
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CLAYTRONICS
An understanding of the complexity of the software engineering needed to
achieve Collective Actuation - a general term for algorithms to control the motion of
micro-electro-mechanical levers inside ensembles - also helps to illustrate the
structure of software research for the Carnegie Mellon-Intel Claytronics Research
Program.
At its important initial stages of software development, claytronics research

has designed algorithms that instruct individual catoms to achieve motion without
moving parts by leveraging electrostatic forces between individual catoms and then
to use that motion to assemble geometric groups of catoms to work in unison.
As a next stage of design for the control of claytronic ensembles, researchers
have conceived algorithms to instruct catoms to form and transform complex and
irregular patterns. These algorithms will give ensembles a capacity to form an
endless variety of shapes.
Claytronics research also develops algorithms that create hierarchies of
efficient motion among more complex shapes. These hierarchies enable an ensemble
to replicate patterns at various scales. Thus, complex forms within an ensemble of
millions of catoms can be rendered quickly and uniformly by drawing upon a book
of patterns.
Around the development of algorithms, meanwhile, researchers have also
created a structure of programming language with which to instruct the ensemble in
the steps of computation used to implement algorithms throughout the
ensemble. Developed to manage a distributed environment of parallel computing
that operates without fixed wires or individually-identified nodes, programming
languages provide the streetwise component of efficient communication in a venue
of one million tiny computers that maintain a capacity to connect while often
momentarily detached from their network.
These levels of software development thus build up the platform upon which
the ensemble can begin to shape catoms into the volume and motion of a 3rd
dimension - with algorithms that enact the leveraging of catom forces known as
collective actuation.
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CLAYTRONICS
CONCLUSION
Once fully developed and functional, this advanced technology would
highly be beneficial, not only to the scientific class of people but also to the
common man. It would help users to carry around a lump of claytronics in their
pockets that can reshape into any object and even act like 3D TV and create
synthetic reality. From scientific perspective, this technology would enable
engineers to work remotely in physically hostile environments or surgeons to
perform intricate surgery on enlarged claytronic replicas of organs, while the
actual organs are being worked upon by a claytronic replica of the surgeon. It
may help scientists learn how to efficiently manage networks of millions of
computers. It will also advance our understanding of nanotechnology.
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CLAYTRONICS
FUTURE SCOPE
The power and flexibility that will arise from being able to "program" the
world around us should influence every aspect of the human experience.
Claytronics is a technology which can serve as the means of implementing a new
communication medium, which we call pario. The idea behind pario is to
reproduce moving, physical 3D objects. Similar to audio and video, we are
neither transporting the original phenomena nor recreating an exact replica:
instead, the idea is to create a physical artefact that can do a good enough job of
reproducing the shape, appearance, motion, etc., of the original object that our
senses will accept it as being close enough. As the capabilities of computing
continue to develop and robotic modules shrink, claytronics will become useful
in many applications. The featured application of claytronics is a new mode of
communication. Claytronics will offer a more realistic sense to communication
over long distance called pario. Similar to how audio and video provide aural
and visual stimulation; pario provides an aural, visual and physical sensation. A
user will be able to hear, see and touch the one communicating with them in a
realistic manner.
Pario could be used effectively in many professional disciplines from
engineering design, education and healthcare to entertainment and leisure
activities such as video games.
The advancements in nanotechnology and computing necessary for
claytronics to become a reality are feasible, but the challenges to overcome are
daunting and will require great innovation. In an interview, December 2008,
Jason Campbell, a lead researcher from Intel Labs Pittsburgh said, "My estimates
of how long it is going to take have gone from 50 years down to just a couple
more years. That has changed over the four years Ive been working on the
project.
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CLAYTRONICS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claytronics
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~claytronics/
http://jiaps.org/claytronics-from-atoms-to-catoms/
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Department of BCA, SRBS Gujarati College, Kochi

Department of BCA, SRBS Gujarati College, Kochi

Department of BCA, SRBS Gujarati College, Kochi

Department of BCA, SRBS Gujarati College, Kochi

Department of BCA, SRBS Gujarati College, Kochi

As these creative systems have evolved in the Carnegie Mellon-Intel Claytronics

Department of BCA, SRBS Gujarati College, Kochi

The key to wide dissemination of a programmable matter material is

1.2 Millimeter Scale Catoms

Department of BCA, SRBS Gujarati College, Kochi

Department of BCA, SRBS Gujarati College, Kochi

Department of BCA, SRBS Gujarati College, Kochi

As a potential means for providing power to catoms without using electrical

We have developed a circuit model to describe the system with a single

1.5 Planar Catoms

Creating Motion without Moving Parts

The planar catom is approximately 45 times larger in diameter than the

Department of BCA, SRBS Gujarati College, Kochi

1.6 Motion from Two Magnet Rings

1.7 Electronic Density for Device Control

Department of BCA, SRBS Gujarati College, Kochi

1.8 Electrostatic Latches

1.9 Stochastic Catoms

Department of BCA, SRBS Gujarati College, Kochi

With the students ' specific contribution to the Carnegie Mellon-Intel

1.10 Giant Helium Catoms

The Giant Helium Catom provides researchers a macroscale instrument to

Department of BCA, SRBS Gujarati College, Kochi

2.2 An Internet in a Box Only Generally Speaking

2.3 For the Nodes, Its All about Cooperation

2.4 A Seamless Ensemble of Form and Functionality

3.1.1 Programming Languages

Department of BCA, SRBS Gujarati College, Kochi

3.1.2 Integrated Debugging

3.1.3 Shape Sculpting

3.1.5 Dynamic Simulation

Department of BCA, SRBS Gujarati College, Kochi

3.2 Programming Language for Claytronic Ensembles

Department of BCA, SRBS Gujarati College, Kochi

The landscape of systems nanotechnology to which claytronics introduces

Department of BCA, SRBS Gujarati College, Kochi

Concise Instructions to More Machines

Department of BCA, SRBS Gujarati College, Kochi

Revising History the Meld Way

3.2.2 Locally Distributed Predicates (LDP)

Department of BCA, SRBS Gujarati College, Kochi

3.3 Programming Claytronics with Meld

3.4 Performance Evaluation of Meld

3.5 Programming Claytronics with Locally Distributed Predicates

3.7 Dynamic Simulation of Claytronic Ensembles

Department of BCA, SRBS Gujarati College, Kochi

3.7.1 Big Window on A Tiny World

3.7.2 Desktop Control for Hundreds of Thousands of Computing

3.8 Aggregate Engineering - Compiling Ensemble-level Specifications

3.9 Integrated Debugging

3.9.1 More Places for Bugs to Hide

3.9.2 New Varieties of Bugs

3.9.3 Distributed Watchpoints

Department of BCA, SRBS Gujarati College, Kochi

3.10.1 The Ensemble Rises

3.10.2 Cranes and Joints for Ensemble Construction

3.10.3 Many Dimensions of Claytronics Software

Department of BCA, SRBS Gujarati College, Kochi