A functional language for programming self-reconfigurable robots

Ulrik P. Schultz, Mirko Bordignon, David Johan Christensen, Kasper Stoy

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Abstract

A self-reconfigurable robot is a robotic device that can change its own shape. Self-reconfigurable robots are commonly built from multiple identical modules that can manipulate each other to change the shape of the robot. The robot can also perform tasks such as locomotion without changing shape. Programming a modular, self-reconfigurable robot is however a complicated task: the robot is essentially a real-time, distributed embedded system, where control and communication paths often are tightly coupled to the current physical configuration of the robot. To facilitate the task of programming modular, selfreconfigurable robots, we are currently developing a functional, domain-specific language that allows the programmer to use pattern matching and higher-order functions to program closely coordinated groups of modules. In more detail, higher-order functions are used to specify behaviors that are applied to groups of modules and a distributed pattern matching mechanism is used to select specific behaviors from these functions depending on the state of the individual modules. We have implemented our language for a virtual machine running on the ATRON self-reconfigurable robot.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationTrends in Functional Programming
EditorsMarco Morazán, Pieter Koopman, Peter Achten
Volume9
PublisherIntellect
Publication date2008
Pages1-13
ISBN (Print)9781841502779
Publication statusPublished - 2008
Externally publishedYes
Event9th Symposium on Trends in Functional Programming 2008 - Nijmegen, Netherlands
Duration: 26 May 200828 May 2008
Conference number: 9

Conference

Conference9th Symposium on Trends in Functional Programming 2008
Number9
Country/TerritoryNetherlands
CityNijmegen
Period26/05/200828/05/2008
SeriesTrends in Functional Programming

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