Distributed control and communication fault tolerance for the CKBot

In this paper we present a method for distributed fault tolerance in a modular robotic system. We describe an implementation of this method on the CKBot system. In particular, we broadcast infrared (IR) signals to modules which collaboratively vote on a majority course of action. Various gait selections for a 7 module caterpillar and a 16 module quadruped with a faulty subset of IR receivers have been verified to demonstrate the algorithm´s robustness. We conclude the paper with a discussion of modes of fault tolerances and this method´s applicability to other modular robotic systems.