Moving Matter: Using a Single, Simple Robot to Reconfigure a Connected Set of Building Blocks

TL;DR

This paper explores methods for reconfiguring connected tile arrangements into target shapes using a single robot, evaluating an algorithm based on histograms alongside heuristics in simulation and real-world tests.

Contribution

It implements and assesses a histogram-based reconfiguration algorithm, comparing its performance with heuristics in practical and simulated environments.

Findings

Histogram algorithm guarantees near-optimal performance for well-separated configurations.

Heuristic algorithms are faster but less reliable in complex scenarios.

Real-world experiments validate simulation results.

Abstract

We implement and evaluate different methods for the reconfiguration of a connected arrangement of tiles into a desired target shape, using a single active robot that can move along the tile structure. This robot can pick up, carry, or drop off one tile at a time, but it must maintain a single connected configuration at all times. Becker et al. (CCCG 2025) recently proposed an algorithm that uses histograms as canonical intermediate configurations, guaranteeing performance within a constant factor of the optimal solution if the start and target configuration are well-separated. We implement and evaluate this algorithm, both in a simulated and practical setting, using an inchworm type robot to compare it with two existing heuristic algorithms.