Motion and Modular Architecture

Abstract: This paper presents an implementation of an architectural module that corresponds to a long serial chain modular robot. As such, this configuration poses possibilities that can move using travelling wave gaits based on snakes and caterpillars. The gaits are controlled with a Gait Control Table which is a simple but powerful way to coordinate the motion of a multiple degree-of-freedom systems. The gaits are implemented on a self-sufficient modular reconfigurable robot with onboard power, computation, sensors and actuators.

PDF - Locomotion with Modular Architecture

The Robot Etudes

Abstract: In spring of 2010, architecture and engineering students at the University of Pennsylvania were teamed together to create artistic mechatronic robotic devices. The context for their creations was Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This became a joint effort between professors from Mechanical Engineering and Architecture and a director from a professional theater troupe instructing a group of students to develop a performance performed by the Pig Iron Theatre Troupe at the Annenberg Center called The Robot Etudes. Whereas robots have been used in theater before and artistic directors have instructed technicians to develop special effects robots, developing robotic elements specifically for theater with a diverse set of creative innovators is new. This paper focuses on the process by which the play was formed and the successes and struggles in forming a cooperative experiment between three very different disciplines.

PDF - Robot Etudes