Claytronics

Claytronics-modular robotics to a new extreme Programmable Matter Rajat Sharma Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering Model Institute of Engineering and Technology Jammu, India. rajatkathua@gmail.com Abstract—The present paper deals with the concept of new emerging technology called Claytronics. This paper explores the published articles that report on results from research conducted by the Intel and Carnegie Mellon University. Claytronics is a form a programmable matter that takes the concept of modular robots to a new extreme. The research is the brainchild of Seth Goldstein, an Associate Professor in the Computer Science Department at Carnegie Mellon University and Todd Mowry, Director of Intel Research Pittsburgh. They determined that, by taking advantage of advances in Nano-scale assembly, they might create human replicas from ensembles of tiny computing devices that could sense, move, and change colour and shape, enabling more realistic videoconferencing. The vision behind this research is to provide users with tangible forms of electronic information that express the appearance and actions of original sources. Keywords- Research design: Dynamic Physical rendering; ensemble. I. INTRODUCTION Imagine a lump of clay in hands. Children will love to squeeze it in between fingers, potters will fire it into bowls and artists will shape it into sculptures. This simple clay consists of hundreds and thousands of microscopic particles. Can a material be so intelligent that it changes its shape as we require. The idea is simple: make basic computers housed in tiny spheres that can connect to each other and rearrange themselves. Each particle, called a Claytronic atom or Catom, is less than a millimetre in diameter. With billions any object can be created. Catoms, or Claytronics Atoms, are also referred to as 'programmable matter'. These are basically miniature pieces of matter so intricate that they can shape-shift into actual shapes of whatever desired based on a quick, programmable system. Catoms are described as being similar in nature to a Nanomachine, but with greater power and complexity. While microscopic individually, they bond and work together on a larger scale. Catoms can change their density, energy levels, state of being, and other characteristics. This vision of nanotechnology is light years away from today's world of carbon nanotubes. The research called "Claytronics" at Carnegie-Mellon University, and "Dynamic Physical Rendering" at Intel is already underway. According to the Claytronics project's Seth Goldstein and Todd Mowry, programmable matter is: An ensemble of material that contains sufficient • Local computation • Actuation • Storage • Energy • Sensing & communication which can be programmed to form interesting dynamic shapes and configurations. This novel idea has evolved into an ambitious collaboration involving almost 30 researchers. Jason Campbell, a senior researcher at Intel Research Pittsburgh, is the Principal Investigator for the DPR project. Goldstein is leading the project for Carnegie Mellon, and Mowry provides additional leadership. The project is being funded by Intel, Carnegie Mellon University, the National Science Foundation, and the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Creation of claytronics technology is the bold objective of collaborative research between Carnegie Mellon and Intel, which combines nano-robotics and large-scale computing to create synthetic reality, a revolutionary, 3-dimensional display of information. Claytronic emulation of the function, behaviour and appearance of individuals, organisms and objects will fully mimic reality - and fulfil a well-known criterion for artificial intelligence formulated by the visionary mathematician and computer science pioneer Alan Turing. In 1950, in a ground-breaking article, Turing asked "Can Machines Think?" and offered a criterion to "refute anyone who doubts that a computer can really think." His proposal was that "if an observer cannot distinguish the responses of a programmed machine from those of a human being, the machine is said to have passed the Turing Test." Although the Turing Test remains a robust source of discussion among those who devote their lives to artificial intelligence, philosophy and cognitive science, claytronics conceives of a technology that will surpass the Turing Test for the appearance of thought in the behaviours of a machine. The Carnegie Mellon Intel Claytronics Research Project combines two principal paths to create technology that will represent information in dynamic, life-like 3-D form-  Engineering design and testing of modular robotic catom prototypes that will be suitable for manufacturing in mass quantities Creation of programming languages and software algorithms to control ensembles of millions of catoms II. HARDWARE At the current stage of design, claytronics hardware operates from macro-scale 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-millimeter scale modules and to elucidate crucial effects of the physical and electrical forces that affect nano-scale robots. A. Electrostatic latches 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. A simple and robust inter-module latch is possibly the most important component of a modular robotic system. The electrostatic latch in Figure 1 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 aluminium 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. Figure 1. Electrostatic Latches (Source-www.cs.cmu.edu/~claytronics) B. 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 shown in Figure 2 also models the primary building block in a hypothetical system for robotic self-assembly that could be used for modular construction. 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. 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. 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 self-construction. C. Planar Catoms The self-actuating, cylinder-shaped planar catom tests concepts of motion without moving parts, power distribution, data transfer and communication that will be eventually incorporated into ensembles of nano-scale robots. It provides a test bed 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 selfactuating nano-system devices. Figure 2. Cubes (Source-www.cs.cmu.edu/~claytronics) Figure 4. Matrix of 20,000 catoms (Source-www.cs.cmu.edu/~claytronics) Figure 3. Planar Catoms (Source-www.cs.cmu.edu/~claytronics) 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. 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 Figure 4, one Giant Helium Catom pivots across the surface of another, revealing the positions and attachments of triangular electrostatic flaps. III. SOFTWARE A. Distributed Computing in Claytronics In a domain of research defined by many of the greatest challenges facing computer scientists and robot-cists today, perhaps none is greater than the creation of algorithms and programming language to organize the actions of millions of sub-millimeter scale catoms in a claytronics ensemble. 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 figure 5 shown. 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. B. An Internet in a box 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 multi-functional 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. Matrix software must also actuate the Figure 5. Simulation of Meld (Source-www.cs.cmu.edu/~claytronics) Figure 6. Snapshot in DPRSim (Source-www.cs.cmu.edu/~claytronics) constant change in the physical locations of the anonymous nodes while they are transferring the data through the network. test and visualize the behaviour of catoms. The simulator creates a world in which catoms take on the characteristics that researchers wish to observe. DPRSim operates as a Linux-based system on desktop computers. It is available as open source software. 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. 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 behaviour of these devices in reality. DPRSim also provides a visual display that allows researchers to observe the behaviour of groups of catoms. In this context, DPRSim allows researchers to model conditions under which they wish to test actions of catoms. Figure 8 presents snapshot from simulations of programs generated through DPRSim. C. Programming Languages 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. Figure 7 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. 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 are implemented in Meld in only a few pages of code. 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 behaviour among groups of modules in the matrix. D. Dynamic Simulation As a first step in developing software to program a claytronic ensemble, the team created DPR-Simulator, a tool   IV. CAPABILITIES OF CATOMS Computation: Researchers believe that catoms could take advantage of existing microprocessor technology. Given that some modern microprocessor cores are now under a square millimeter, they believe that a reasonable amount of computational capacity should fit on the several square millimeters of surface area potentially available in a 2mm-diameter catom. Motion: Although they will move, catoms will have no moving parts. This will enable them to form connections much more rapidly than traditional microrobots, and it will make them easier to manufacture in high volume. Catoms will bind to one another and move via electromagnetic or electrostatic forces, depending on the catom size. Imagine a catom that is close to spherical in shape, and whose perimeter is covered by small electromagnets. A catom will move itself around by   Power: Catoms must be able to draw power without having to rely on a bulky battery or a wired connection. Under a novel resistor-network design the researchers have developed, only a few catoms must be connected in order for the entire ensemble to draw power. When connected catoms are energized, this triggers active routing algorithms which distribute power throughout the ensemble. Communications: Communications is perhaps the biggest challenge that researchers face in designing catoms. An ensemble could contain millions or billions of catoms, and because of the way in which they pack, there could be as many as six axes of interconnection.  At a high level, there are two steps: energizing a particular magnet and cooperating with a neighbouring catom to do the same, drawing the pair together. If both catoms are free, they will spin equally about their axes, but if one catom is held rigid by links to its neighbours, the other will swing around the first, rolling across the fixed catom's surface and into a new position. Electrostatic actuation will be required once catom sizes shrink to less than a millimeter or two. The process will be essentially the same, but rather than electromagnets, the perimeter of the catom will be covered with conductive plates. By selectively applying electric charges to the plates, each catom will be able to move relative to its neighbours. Another unique feature of catom networks is that catoms are homogeneous. Thus, unlike cell phones or other communications devices, the identity of an individual catom is sometimes (but not always) unimportant. An application is more likely to care about routing a message to the catoms comprising a specific physical part of an ensemble (for instance, the catoms comprising a "hand") rather than sending the same message to specific catoms based on their serial numbers. Furthermore, catoms may be in motion periodically, as the shape of the ensemble changes. Creating the replica: Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University also are exploring 3D image capture, in the Virtualized Reality project. They have developed technology that points a set of cameras at an event and enables the viewer to virtually fly around and watch the event from a variety of positions. The DPR researchers believe a similar approach could be used to capture 3D scenes for use in creating physical, moving 3D replicas. Figure 7. Replica Formation (Source: www.intel.com) •Capturing a moving, three-dimensional image and •Rendering it as a physical object. Replicas will be created from Catoms. Catoms can be framed into different shapes, and it can change color, through light-emitting diodes on its surface. Embedded photo cells will enable it to sense light, so that a human replica can "see." Catoms might even simulate the texture of the person or object being replicated. A replica will have computing capabilities, but these will be accessed through touch, voice, or another natural interface rather than a keyboard or mouse. Catoms will be as close to spherical as possible to support multiple packing densities. V. APPLICATIONS The potential applications of dynamic physical rendering are limited only by the imagination. Following are a few of the possibilities:  Medicine: A replica of your physician could appear in your living room and perform an exam. The virtual doctor would precisely mimic the shape, appearance and movements of your "real" doctor, who is performing the actual work from a remote office.    Disaster relief: Human replicas could serve as standins for medical personnel, firefighters, or disaster relief workers. Objects made of programmable matter could be used to perform hazardous work and could morph into different shapes to serve multiple purposes. A fire hose could become a shovel, a ladder could be transformed into a stretcher. Entertainment: A football game, ice skating competition or other sporting event could be replicated in miniature on your coffee table. A movie could be recreated in your living room, and you could insert yourself into the role of one of the actors. 3D physical modeling: Physical replicas could replace 3D computer models, which can only be viewed in two (Source: www.cs.cmu.edu/~claytronics) Figure 8. 3D model of Car formed by Catoms dimensions and must be accessed through a keyboard and mouse. Using claytronics, you could reshape or resize a model car or home with your hands, as if you were working with modeling clay. As you manipulated the model directly, aided by embedded software that's similar to the drawing tools found in office software programs, the appropriate computations would be carried out automatically. You would not have to work at a computer at all; you would simply work with the model. Using claytronics, multiple people at different locations could work on the same model. As a person at one location manipulated the model, it would be modified at every location. VI. ENVISIONING THE FUTURE Backed by the microchip manufacturer Intel, first generation catoms, measuring 4.4 centimeters in diameter and 3.6 centimeters in height have already been created. The goal is to eventually produce catoms that are one or two millimeters in diameter-small enough to produce convincing replicas. It's not just a problem of building tiny robots, but figuring out how to power them, to get them to stick together and to coordinate and control millions or billions of them. These catoms, which are ringed by several electromagnets, are able to move around each other to form a variety of shapes containing rudimentary processors and drawing electricity from a board that they rest upon. So far only four catoms have been operated together. The plan though is to have thousands of them moving around each other to form whatever shape is desired and to change colour, also as required. Five years from now, the DPR researchers expect to have working ensembles of catoms that are close to spherical in shape. These catoms still will be large enough that no one will confuse a replica with the real thing (for that, catoms will probably have to shrink to less than a millimeter in diameter). But the catoms will be sufficiently robust that researchers can experiment with a variety of shapes, test hypotheses about ensemble behaviour, and begin to envision where the technology might lead within a decade or two. While the potential applications of dynamic physical rendering are exciting, the work being done at Intel Research Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University has broader implications. At its core, the research involves learning to design, power, program and control a densely packed set of microprocessors. These are similar to the key challenges facing the computer industry today. As a result, the DPR research is likely to produce new insights and technologies that could influence the future of computing and communications. If, in 1960, someone had suggested that one day you could buy a million transistors for a penny, the prediction would have seemed outlandish. But today Intel sells transistors for less than a micro cent, thanks to the continuing technology advances predicted by Moore's Law. It's not unreasonable to predict that one day far in the future; it may be possible to buy a million catoms for a penny. But dynamic physical rendering could become viable long before Moore's Law drives down the cost of a catom to a micro-cent. Even if catoms could be produced for a dollar each, some visualization applications might be economically viable. Whatever the cost, building catoms that are one millimeter in diameter-small enough to create convincing replicas-will be a difficult engineering challenge. But given current industry knowledge and the state of the art of silicon technology, it is not outside the realm of possibility. The challenge lies less in developing new technology than in bringing together a number of research areas in which the industry has made tremendous technical progress in the last decade. ACKNOWLEDGMENT In the preparation of this research paper, I am grateful to the Principal of MIET and specially to Lecturer Parshotam Sharma, H.O.D. of E.C.E. Dept., who have left no stone unturned for the successful completion of this paper. I have received help and encouragement for which I am deeply grateful to my friends- Shwetanshu Gupta, Vivek Singh, Rajat Basotra, Sahil Dogra, Rahul Lakhanpuria, Rameshwar Sharma, Varinder Singh, Sourab Sharma and Ankush Sharma. My special dept. of gratitude to my grandfather Sh. Jai Dev Sharma, my father Sh. Joginder Raj Sharma and my mother Smt. Suman Sharma for their help and motivation. 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