Work on a highly distributed coordination control system

This paper examines a distributed control system where a conveyor-like array of actuators cooperate to manipulate objects in a plane. Each manipulator has its own simple controller which communicates with the neighboring controllers, allowing coordinated motion over the entire array. The system is modeled as a continuous medium rather than a collection of discrete actuators. Physical analogies to nature, such as heat transfer and electric fields are used to generate useful behavior such as speed servoing of an object, passing of objects over manipulators, and collision avoidance between objects. Simulations of a single row of actuators are performed, and extensions to planar arrays are suggested