An Autonomous Construction System with Deformable Pockets

In this paper, we develop an autonomous construction system in which a self-contained ground robot builds a protective barrier by means of deformable pockets (i.e., filled bags). We present a stochastic control algorithm based on two biological mechanisms (stigmergy and templates) that takes advantage of deformable pockets for autonomous construction. The control algorithm guides the robot to build the structure without relying on external motion capture systems or on external computers. To demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed system, real-robot experiments were carried out. In each of them, the robot successfully built the structure. We propose a statistical model to represent the structures built with deformable pockets, and we provide a set of criteria for assessing the performance of the proposed system. The results show the viability of the proposed autonomous construction system in accomplishing the task. keywords: Autonomous construction, Deformable pockets, Stigmergy, Templates