HydroGen: Automatically Generating Self-Assembly Code for Hydron Units

Abstract

This paper introduces HydroGen, an object compiler system that produces self-assembly instructions for configurations of Hydron units. The Hydron is distinct from other self-reconfigurable robotic units in that it operates under water, and can thus move without being constrained by gravity of connectivity requirements. It is therefore well suited to self-assembly as opposed to self-reconfiguration, and faces similar control problems to those expected in nanotechnology applications. We describe the first version of the Hydron Object Compiler and its supporting software. The object compiler uses a basic instruction set to produce instructions for the distributed self-assembly of any given connected configuration of Hydron units. We briefly outline the implementation of a preliminary interpreter for this instruction set for Hydron units in a reasonably realistic simulated environment, and demonstrate its operation on two example configurations.