Concurrent and Real-Time Task Management for Self-Reconfigurable Robots

We present a concurrent and real-time task management method for distributed control of modules in a self-reconfigurable robot. This method is essential for modules to simultaneously control multiple behaviors in real-time and supporting a concurrent programming style that will greatly ease the development of control software for large-scale reconfigurable robots. Although real-time operating systems and concurrent programming have been around for many years, it is only recently that the technology is miniaturized enough for embedded systems and self-reconfigurable robots. We have successfully implemented the method on our new SuperBot modules and have demonstrated its utility through the programming of locomotion gaits with the real modules.