YaMoR

Project description

We have designed hardware for modular robot units called Yamor (Yet another Modular Robot). The aim of the project is to create robot units that can rapidly be attached to each other in order to create arbitrary multi-unit robot structures. We are interested in developing adaptive algorithms that use local interactions rules between units in order to optimize the global behavior of the multi-unit structure.

Yamor units have the following characteristics:

  1. each unit is autonomous in terms of power, sensing, actuation, and computing,
  2. they are driven by heavy-duty servos such that one unit can lift up to 3 others,
  3. they communicate via BlueTooth (i.e. no need for electrical connections between units),
  4. they are equiped with an FPGA and/or ARM processors for providing flexible computational power,
  5. they can be attached and detached manually from each other by a screw-and-pin system in multiple ways, which allows us to create different robot configuations.

The unit are designed to be of general-purpose. One particular control scheme we are interested in is to control the locomotion of the units by systems of coupled nonlinear oscillators.

Robot design

YaMoR module unit YaMoR module unit

Student projects adaptive locomotion Yamor

Student projects adaptive locomotion

People involved

Alexander Sproewitz, Rico Moeckel, André Guignard, André Badertscher, Auke Ijspeert

The Past’s Traces in the Future of Museums

D. Bertschi 

The Future of Museums: Perspectives from the Arts, Research and Beyond, ETH Zürich, Atavism — Architecture Heritage and Sustainability , March 5, 2024.

Swiss Coloniality – Unearthing its (in)visibilities: Tracing a fragmented visual and material history of Swiss coloniality between Switzerland and Brazil

D. Bertschi 

Colonial Endurance. Detecting the Algorithm of Violence in Infrastructures, Nieuwe Institute, Rotterdam (NL), 27 July 2023 – 22 October 2023.

CONFIDENTIAL

D. Bertschi 

2018-09-15.
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Haunting Home

D. Bertschi 

2020-01-24.
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STATE FICTION. Neutral Only on the Outside

D. Bertschi 

2021-09-16.

STATE FICTION. The Gaze of the Swiss Neutral Mission in the Korean Demilitarized Zone

D. Bertschi 

Genève: Edition Centre de la Photographie Genève, 2021-09-17.

Digital Twins of Stone Masonry Buildings for Damage Assessment

B. G. Pantoja Rosero; R. Achanta; K. Beyer 

2024. 13th International Conference on Structural Analysis of Historical Constructions, Kyoto, Japan, September 12-15, 2023. p. 1437-1445. DOI : 10.1007/978-3-031-39603-8_115.

Reducing uncertainties in response predictions of earthquake-damaged masonry buildings using data from image-based inspection

M. Haindl Carvallo; B. G. Pantoja Rosero; K. Beyer; I. F. C. Smith 

2024. 13th International Conference on Structural Analysis of Historical Constructions, Kyoto, Japan, September 12-15, 2023. p. 835-848. DOI : 10.1007/978-3-031-39603-8_68.
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Mapping Architectural Traces of the Swiss–South African Gold Trade in Johannesburg: Film as Investigative Spatial Research

D. Bertschi 

Researching Otherwise. Pluriversal Methodologies for Landscape and Urban Studies.; Zurich: gta Verlag, 2024-05-30.

Numerical Modeling of FRP-Strengthened Masonry Structures Using Equivalent Frame Models

I. Bozulic; F. Vanin; K. Beyer 

2024. 13th International Conference on Structural Analysis of Historical Constructions, Kyoto, Japan, September 12-15, 2023. p. 400–406. DOI : 10.1007/978-3-031-39450-8_33.