ROBOTIC SELF-REPLICATION

Since the first theoretical work was presented by John von Neumann in 1950's, many researchers have been designed/built robotic replicating systems to prove the concept of machine reproduction. For many years, our lab has been built several prototypes to demonstrate robotic self-replication and uncover hardware limitations.

PHASE I: MAN-CONTROLLED SELF-REPLICATING SYSTEMS

The first physical implimentation of the concept on robotic (kinematic) self-replication was based on remote-controlled systems. An initial functional robot consisting of several prefabricated subsystems was able to replicate a copy of itself by human control. This system is not fully autonomous, and therefore, it may arise a question if this is 'truelly self-replicating'. However, we opened a possibility of robotic self-replication through these experiments. The following video clips show the experimental results. The physical prototypes were desinged and built as a part of requirements of Mechatronics course (Spring/2002) supported by the department of Mechanical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. Prototypes are made by LEGO blocks and use RCX controllers. [PHASE I-1] [PHASE I-2] [PHASE I-3]

Related publications

Self-Replicating Robots for Lunar Development. G. S. Chirikjian, Y. Zhou, J. Suthakorn. ASME/IEEE Trans. on Mechatronics. 7(4) Dec. 2002 [download]

Self-Replicating Robots for Space Utilization. J. Suthakorn, Y. Zhou, G. S. Chirikjian. Proceedings of the 2002 Roboshpere. NASA Ames. 2002 [download]

Toward Self-Replicating Robots. G. S. Chirikjian and J. Suthakorn. Proceedings of the 8th ISER. Jul. 2002 [download]

PHASE II: SEMI-AUTONOMOUS SELF-REPLICATING SYSTEMS

The system developed in this phase is partially controlled by human, i.e. some tasks during the replication process are autumatically performed by the initial functional robot (so called 'semi-autonomous' system). The following video shows a physical prototype demonstrating replication by collecting and assembling four subsystems. Click on the picture to see the video clip.

Related publications

A Semi-Autonomous Replicating Robotic System. J. Suthakorn, Y. Kwon, G. S. Chirikjian. Proceedings of 2003 IEEE CIRA. Jul. 2003 [download]

PHASE III: AUTONOMOUS SELF-REPLICATING SYSTEMS WITH COMPUTER CONTROL

Based on our previous experiments on remote-controlled and semi-autonomous systems, a fully automated self-replicating system with a LEGO RCX controller was developed. The system includes an initial functional robot consisting of four subsystems and a structured environment. Please click on the pictures below to see available video clips.

Related publications

Robotic Self-Repair in a Semi-Structured Environment. W. Park, D. Albright, C. Addleston, W. K. Won, K. Lee and G. S. Chirikjian. Proceedings of Robosphere 2004. NASA Ames. Nov. 2004 [download]

An Autonomous Self-Replicating Robotic System. J. Suthakorn, A. Cushing, G. S. Chirikjian. Proceedings of the 2003 IEEE/ASME Intl. Conf. on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics [download]

PHASE IV: AUTONOMOUS SELF-REPLICATING SYSTEMS WITHOUT COMPUTER CONTROL

Autonomous self-replicating systems composed without computer control demonstrate robotic self-replication from low-complexity parts by replacing a microprocessor with simple electronic circuits distributed into the subsytems.  Please click on the pictures below to see available video clips.

Related publications

Robotic Self-Replication in Structured Environments: Physical Demonstrations and Complexity Measures. K. Lee, M. Moses and G. S. Chirikjian. IJRR 2007 (in press) [download]

Robotic Self-Replication from Low Complexity Parts. K. Lee and G. S. Chirikjian. IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine 2007 (in press) [download]

Robotic Self-Replication in a Structured Environment without Computer Control. S. Eno, L. Mace, J. Liu, B. Benson, K. Raman, K. Lee, M. Moses and G. S. Chirikjian. Proceedings of the 2007 IEEE ICRA. 2007 [download]

A Memoryless Robot that Assembles Seven Subsystmes to Copy Itself. A. Liu, M. Sterling, D. Kim, A. Pierpont, A. Schlothauer, M. Moses, K. Lee and G. S. Chirikjian. Proceedings of the 2007 IEEE ISAM. 2007 [download]

Measures of Reliability and Task Comlexity for Self-Replicating Systems. K. Lee and G. S. Chirikjian. Proceedings of ICAR 2007, Jeju, Korea, Aug. 2007 [download]

Robotic Self-Replication in Structured and Adaptable Environment (extended abstract). K. Lee, M. Moses and G. S. Chirikjian. Proceedings of Robotics: Science and Systems Workshop on Self-Reconfigurable. Aug. 2006 [download]

Johns Hopkins University. Click on the pictures below to see  available video clips.