AUTHOR=Macias Nicholas J. , Teuscher Christof , Durbeck Lisa J. K. 

TITLE=Design of Introspective Circuits for Analysis of Cell-Level Dis-orientation in Self-Assembled Cellular Systems

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Robotics and AI

VOLUME=Volume 3 - 2016

YEAR=2016

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/robotics-and-ai/articles/10.3389/frobt.2016.00002

DOI=10.3389/frobt.2016.00002

ISSN=2296-9144

ABSTRACT=This paper discusses a novel approach to managing complexity in a large self-assembled system, by employing the self-assembling components themselves to address the complexity. Challenges are discussed, including the question of how to deal with elements that are assembled in different orientations from each other, and a solution based on the idea of introspective circuits is described. A methodology for determining a single cell’s orientation from an adjacent cell is given. An algorithm is then described for using such re-oriented edge cells to determine orientation of more-interior cells, thus allowing re-orientation of an entire 2D region of cells. Test procedures are described, and results are presented to show better-than-linear time performance (O(sqrt(n))). The significance of this work is discussed, not only in terms of managing arrays of dis-oriented cells, but more importantly as an example of the usefulness of local, distributed self-configuration to create and use introspective circuitry. Finally, future work is discussed, including extension to 3D collections of cells.