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The quest for self-reconfiguring robotic structures is to some extent inspired by envisioned applications such as long-term space missions, that require long-term self-sustaining robotic ecology that can handle unforeseen situations and may require self repair. A second source of inspiration are biological systems that are self-constructed out of a relatively small repertoire of lower-level building blocks (cells or amino acids, depending on scale of interest). This architecture underlies biological systems’ ability to physically adapt, grow, heal, and even self replicate – capabilities that would be desirable in many engineered systems.
==History and
<Add brief history of field, reference original articles>
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Since the early demonstrations of early modular self-reconfiguring systems, the size, robustness and performance has been continuously improving. In parallel, planning and control algorithms have been progressing to handle thousands on units. There are, however, several key steps that are necessary for these systems to realize their promise of ''adaptability, robustness and low cost''. These steps can be broken down into challenges in the hardware design, in planning and control algorithms and in application. These challenges are often intertwined.
The extent to which the promise of self-reconfiguring robotic systems can be realized depends critically on the numbers of modules in the system. To date, only systems with up to about 30 units have been demonstrated, with this number stagnating over almost a decade. There are a number of fundamental limiting factors that govern this number:
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