TERMES Project, Self-organizing Systems Research Group, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

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Self-organizing Systems Research Group

 

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TERMES Project: An autonomous robotic system for 3D collective construction

Uploaded on Jun 7, 2011

This video demonstrates the TERMES project progress as of May 2011, and accompanies the RSS 2011 paper. The video covers the autonomous robot (Kali) navigation, manipulation, and finally construction of a complete 10-block staircase. It also includes a simulation video of the algorithmic approach to constructing desired structures using decentralized rules.

 

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TERMES Project: Adaptive Staircase

Uploaded on Jun 14, 2011

Autonomous construction of a staircase to scale a cliff of unknown height. The TERMES robot (Kali) detects unclimbable surfaces and uses previous experience to determine the next building sequence. The robot does this using only on-board IR range/pattern sensors (downwards and forwards) and internal tilt sensor.

 

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TERMES Project: A Narrated Overview for General Audiences

Uploaded on Sep 14, 2011

A short overview of the TERMES project, in which we're developing multi-robot systems for automated construction, inspired by the building activity of termites. A user can ask for a particular final structure, and independent robots with decentralized control and onboard sensing will follow simple, local rules that guarantee correct completion of that structure.

 

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Termite robots build castles with no human help

Published on Feb 13, 2014

A swarm of self-organsing robots can cooperate to build structures, making decisions based on their environment with no human control

Read more:
"Termite robots build castles with no human help"

by Hal Hodson
February 13, 2014

 

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Termite-Inspired Robots Can Build Unsupervised

Published on Feb 17, 2014

Termites building a mound don't need central guidance, or even to communicate directly. Researchers at Harvard University's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering have built robots that work with similar autonomy, as Dr. Justin Werfel explains.

 

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Designing Collective Behavior in a Termite-Inspired Robot Construction Team, Science 2014.

Published on Mar 14, 2014

Supplementary Movie 3: Hardware demonstration of three robots working on a castle-like structure, starting from a partially complete state (Fig. 4A). Robots are autonomous, independently controlled, and have strictly onboard, short-range sensing. Total elapsed time in this clip is 23 minutes.

 

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TERMES Robots: 2 robot construction

Published on Mar 14, 2014

Early Implementation: 2 robots working together, building on structure only.

 

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Justin Werfel in Robots in Depth #19

Published on Mar 1, 2018

Justin Werfel talks about what termites can teach us about using autonomous swarms of robots. Host: Per Sjöborg, Robots in Depth #19 supported by http://www.aptomica.com

Termites have an amazing ability to create and maintain large, complicated structures with very limited capabilities.

Justin talks about the opportunity to learn from the termites capability to create impressive structures and use that to create structures with autonomous swarms of robots. We get to hear about how the Termes project aims to learn from termites and build on their capabilities to create any desired structure.

We also hear how Justin was drawn to robotics by the balance between theoretical and practical work.

 

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Termites and Robots, Building Together | Justin Werfel | TEDxPrincetonU

Published on Feb 6, 2019

Human construction projects rely on careful planning and organized teamwork. Termites show us another way. While termites here are famous as agents of destruction, their relatives elsewhere build huge, elaborate towers, where each of the millions of insects in the colony acts on its own without advance planning or information beyond what it experiences directly. These wonders of the natural world inspire the creation of swarms of robots to construct buildings for us. Senior Research Scientist This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.