3D self-assembling algorithms for Square Balloons (SAILS)

At a crossroad between Art and Science, the SAILS project aims to bring together researchers in both artistic and scientific domains to collaborate towards the production of a robotic environment dedicated to architectural research. Following his interest in studying the formation of urban landscapes in unplanned settlements as well as the use of Artificial Life models in producing architectural shapes, Nicolas Reeves has chosen to study the potential for swarm-intelligence models to produce self-organised three-dimensional structures of architectural relevance. As demonstrated by Bonabeau and Theraulaz in their investigation of self-organised nest building (Bonabeau et al. 2000), local rules are sufficient to produce complex structures through the help of stigmergic interactions.

The project consist of designing self-assembling behaviours for indoor cubic robotic blimps and will involve in its final stage 12 to 20 flying cubes. Complex structures will emerge from these interactions with robots self-configuring into a pattern and then reconfiguring into another.
To tackle the difficulties inherent in this project, a multi-level design methodology has been adopted, such that the development of the Mascarillons is undertaken in parallel, on several experimental levels:

multi-robot real platform, target implementation crucial for the parameterisation of all levels of abstraction. It dictates the limitations of a given implementation that need to be echoed in the abstract models. It also provides a testbed for confirmation of results.

Additional Information

SAILS project official website

Team

Julien Nembrini

Collaborators

Prof. Nicolas Reeves
Prof. Alan Winfield

Sponsors

NXI gestatio, UQàM Montréal, Québec
IAS Lab Bristol UK

Publications