Robotic self-replication

• Published in: IEEE robotics & automation magazine Vol. 14; no. 4; pp. 34 - 43
• Main Authors: Kiju Lee, Chirikjian, G.S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01-12-2007; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Automata; Automation; Biochemistry; Complexity; Computer science; control theory; systems; Control systems; Control theory. Systems; DNA; Exact sciences and technology; Industrial robots; Kinematics; Manufacturing engineering; Mathematical models; Proteins; Prototypes; Reproduction; Robotic assembly; Robotics; Robotics and automation; Robots; Studies; Replication; Robotics
• ISSN: 1070-9932; 1558-223X
• DOI: 10.1109/M-RA.2007.908962

The paper introduce a descriptive framework for robotic replicating systems that extends von Neumann's classical model of self-reproducing automata. A new physical prototype is developed to examine principles and uncover hardware limitations of kinematic reproduction at a low-complexity level in man-made physical systems. The initial functional robot assembles six subsystems located in a partially structured environment to form an exact functional replica of itself. Self-replication of the sort demonstrated here can be achieved by designing a robotic system composed of multiple simple parts/subsystems rather than a relatively few complex robotic modules. Therefore, this prototype hints at the feasibility of the concept of fully autonomous man-made machines that can construct functional copies of themselves from many very basic components. As a simple measure of system complexity, the number of active elements in each subsystem and interconnections between subsystems are counted. In addition, we present a measure of the degree of replication that includes the complexity distribution and the relative complexity of the total system to individual parts.