Development of a Digital Twin for Distributed Modular Robot Systems
摘要
Distributed modular robotics systems, combined with a distributed communication-based algorithm, can produce self-reconfigurable programmable matter that can change the shape of objects on demand. A Digital Twin is a powerful way of connecting the digital and real worlds by creating and managing the same concepts in both environments. This connection can be used by both worlds to detect faults in the real world or to access vast resources from the digital world that are necessary for planning self-reconfiguration. In this paper, we present a Digital Twin that mirrors the physical system based on Blinky Blocks in real-time, reconstructs the full configuration from local interactions, and tracks events such as block additions, removals, and color changes. This provides a coherent global view, enabling safe testing, system-level monitoring, and a foundation for AI-driven reconfiguration and fault recovery.