A Mechanism of Very Many Degrees of Freedom and a Distributed Control System

Abstract

A mechanical link system is designed which is composed of identical units. There is no limit to the total size of the mechanism and any size is possible so long as enough units are available. Each unit has its dedicated controller and there is no central controller which supervises the total system. Each controller has the same software and it knows neither the total system size nor its location in the system at first. The controllers can talk to their neighbour units' controllers and while talking, they gradually get information and establish a well-organized distributed control system. The system accepts external commands and realizes movement on a plane. The system composed of nine units has been realized and experiments have been carried out.