Experiments with a zigbee wireless communication system for self-reconfiguring modular robots

The problem of designing reliable low-cost communications systems to support decentralized algorithms is a major research challenge in self-reconfiguring modular robotics. In this paper we evaluate a communication system based on ZigBee, a wireless ad-hoc mesh networking standard. We present a 15-no...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in2009 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation pp. 1947 - 1952
Main Authors Fitch, R., Lal, R.
Format Conference Proceeding
LanguageEnglish
Published IEEE 01.05.2009
Subjects
Bluetooth
Communication system control
Hardware
Prototypes
Robotics and automation
Robots
Strontium
Telecommunication network reliability
Wireless communication
ZigBee
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ISBN1424427886
9781424427888
ISSN1050-4729
DOI10.1109/ROBOT.2009.5152807

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Summary:The problem of designing reliable low-cost communications systems to support decentralized algorithms is a major research challenge in self-reconfiguring modular robotics. In this paper we evaluate a communication system based on ZigBee, a wireless ad-hoc mesh networking standard. We present a 15-node system prototype and results from an experiment of 300 trials that measures system performance on a benchmark task. The benchmark we chose is the connectivity problem - how to maintain connectivity in the module graph during the disconnections and reconnections that occur during reconfiguration. We also provide full implementation details in pseudocode for our connectivity algorithm. Our results show that, despite its inherent scalability limitations, a ZigBee wireless system is feasible as a simple, low-cost communication system for self-reconfiguring modular robots.
ISBN:1424427886
9781424427888
ISSN:1050-4729
DOI:10.1109/ROBOT.2009.5152807