Publications by Roderich Gross

Evo-Bots: A Simple, Stochastic Approach to Self-assembling Artificial Organisms

This paper describes an alternative path towards artificial life-one by which simple modular robots with novel hybrid motion control are used to represent artificial organisms. We outline conceptually how such a system would work, and present a partial har ...

SPRINGER INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHING AG2019

Guest editorial: Special issue on distributed robotics - from fundamentals to applications

Alcherio Martinoli, Roderich Gross

2018

Towards an Autonomous Evolution of Non-Biological Physical Organisms

Francesco Mondada, Stéphane Magnenat, Michael Bonani, Roderich Gross, Lorenz Küchler

We propose an experimental study where simplistic organ- isms rise from inanimate matter and evolve solely through physical interactions. These organisms are composed of three types of macroscopic building blocks floating in an agitated medium. The dynamis ...

Springer Verlag2011

Self-Assembly Strategies in a Group of Autonomous Mobile Robots

Roderich Gross

Robots are said to be capable of self-assembly when they can autonomously form physical connections with each other. By examining different ways in which a system can use self-assembly (i.e., different strategies), we demonstrate and quantify the performan ...

2010

Towards Group Transport by Swarms of Robots

Roderich Gross

We examine the ability of a swarm robotic system to transport cooperatively objects of different shapes and sizes. We simulate a group of autonomous mobile robots that can physically connect to each other and to the transported object. Controllers — artifi ...

2009

Segregation in swarms of mobile robots based on the Brazil nut effect

Francesco Mondada, Stéphane Magnenat, Roderich Gross

We study a simple algorithm inspired by the Brazil nut effect for achieving segregation in a swarm of mobile robots. The algorithm lets each robot mimic a particle of a certain size and broadcast this information locally. The motion of each particle is con ...

IEEE Computer Society Press2009

Swarm-bots to the Rescue

Francesco Mondada, Michael Bonani, Roderich Gross

We explore the problem of resource allocation in a system made up of autonomous agents that can either carry out tasks individually or, when necessary, cooperate by forming physical connections with each other. We consider a group transport scenario that i ...

Springer Verlag2009

Teamwork in Self-Organized Robot Colonies

Francesco Mondada, Michael Bonani, Roderich Gross

Swarm robotics draws inspiration from decentralized self-organizing biological systems in general and from the collective behavior of social insects in particular. In social insect colonies, many tasks are performed by higher order group or team entities, ...

2009

Self-Assembly at the Macroscopic Scale

Roderich Gross

In this paper, we review half a century of research on the design of systems displaying (physical) self-assembly of macroscopic components. We report on the experience gained in the design of 22 such systems, exhibiting components ranging from passive mech ...

2008

Self-assembly at the macroscopic scale

Roderich Gross

In this paper, we review half a century of research on the design of systems displaying (physical) self-assembly of macroscopic components. We report on the experience gained in the design of 21 such systems, exhibiting components ranging from passive mech ...

2008

Division of Labour in Self-Organised Groups

Francesco Mondada, Michael Bonani, Roderich Gross

In social insect colonies, many tasks are performed by higher-order entities, such as groups and teams whose task solving capacities transcend those of the individual participants. In this paper, we investigate the emergence of such higher-order entities u ...

Springer Verlag2008

Performance Benefits of Self-Assembly in a Swarm-Bot

Francesco Mondada, Michael Bonani, Roderich Gross

Mobile robots are said to be capable of self-assembly when they can autonomously form physical connections with each other. Despite the recent proliferation of self-assembling systems, little work has been done on using self-assembly to add functional valu ...

IEEE Computer Society Press2007

Autonomous Self-assembly in a Swarm-bot

Francesco Mondada, Michael Bonani, Roderich Gross

Multi-robot systems have been studied in tasks that require the robots to be physically linked. In such a configuration, a group of robots may navigate a terrain that proves too difficult for a single robot. On the contrary, many collective tasks can be ac ...

Springer Verlag2006

Cooperation through self-assembly in multi-robot

Francesco Mondada, Michael Bonani, Roderich Gross

This article illustrates the methods and results of two sets of experiments in which a group of mobile robots, called s-bots, are required to physically connect to each other, that is, to self-assemble, to cope with environmental conditions that prevent th ...

2006

Group Transport Along a Robot Chain in a Self-Organised Robot Colony

Francesco Mondada, Michael Bonani, Roderich Gross

We study groups of autonomous robots engaged in a foraging task as typically found in some ant colonies. The task is to find a prey object and a nest object, establish a path between the two, and transport the prey to the nest. Once a path is established, ...

IOS Press2006

Autonomous Self-assembly in Swarm-Bots

Francesco Mondada, Michael Bonani, Roderich Gross

In this paper, we discuss the self-assembling capabilities of the swarm-bot, a distributed robotics concept that lies at the intersection between collective and self-reconfigurable robotics. A swarm-bot comprises autonomous mobile robots called s-bots. S-b ...

2006

Object Transport by Modular Robots that Self-assemble

Francesco Mondada, Michael Bonani, Roderich Gross

IEEE Computer Society Pres2006

Transport of an Object by Six Pre-attached Robots Interacting via Physical Links

Francesco Mondada, Roderich Gross

IEEE Computer Society Press2006