Smart Matter Integrated Systems
The integrated systems program is developing systems approaches to take advantage of recent developments in computation and devices. In general, large numbers of sensors and actuators can be combined to provide performance that would previously have required highly fault-tolerant systems.
Modular Reconfigurable Robotics
Modular Reconfigurable Robotics is an idea about how to build robots for various complex tasks. Instead of designing a new and different mechanical robot for each task, you just build many copies of one simple module. The module can't do much by itself, but when you connect many of them together you get a system that can do complicated things. In fact, a modular robot can even reconfigure itself -- change its shape by moving its modules around -- to meet the demands of different tasks or different working environments.
Networked Embedded Software Technology
DARPA's Networked Embedded Software Technology (NEST) program seeks novel approaches to the design and implementation of software for networked embedded systems. We have a four-year contract on Distributed Adaptive Constrained Optimization in the Time-bounded Synthesis category.
Smart matter consists of sensors, actuators, and computers embedded in physical materials. These devices can alter physical properties of the material under program control. A key issue for realizing the potential of smart matter is designing the control mechanisms. When the number of devices is large, multi-agent systems can provide robust distributed control through analogies with biological ecosystems, economic markets and the scientific community.
The Model-based Computing project is an attempt to streamline the writing of software for electro-mechanical systems through compositional, declarative models of the system. Our focus has been on real-time, embedded scheduling for paper-path control in reprographic machines and on modeling language design.
