[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-84212-en":3,"doc-seo-84212-105":29,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":91},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":20,"is_downloadable":20,"audit_status":20,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":27,"read_time":28},84212,962075114765,"Quinn","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_a8503ba1806abce46bf441b54a3ca4cd",8,"Research & Report","Programmable Synchronization Graphs for Adaptive and Fault-Tolerant Modular Miniature Robots","Programmable synchronization graphs enable coordination of many imperfect actuator-sensor modules in modular miniature robots operating under tight limits on computation, communication, and reliability. The approach models each actuator-sensor pair as a network node and encodes locomotor coupling through intra- and signed inter-subgraph links to tune phase relationships. Experiments with up to nine modules show programmable emergence of synchronization, gallop- and trot-like contact patterns, sparse topology benefits, fault tolerance to deactivations, and improved robustness via learned edge selection.","Programmable Synchronization Graphs for Adaptive and Fault-Tolerant Modular Miniature Robots  \nO. Kulekcioglu, 1 A. B. Ahmad, 1 I. Garcia,2 F. S. Alves,2 O. Ozcan, 1  \nM. S. Hanay 1,2*  \n1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Bilkent University; Ankara, Türkiye.  \n2 International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL); Braga, Portugal.  \n*Corresponding author. Email: [selim.hanay@inl.int](selim.hanay@inl.int)  \nAbstract: Modular miniature robots could provide scalable function in constrained environments, but coordinating many imperfect modules remains difficult when computation, communication and reliability are limited. A central robotics challenge is to coordinate many actuator-sensor modules without assigning a privileged leader, prescribing a fixed gait template, or relying on dense communication. Here we introduce a programmable synchronization-graph framework for modular miniature robots in which each actuator-sensor pair is represented as a network node and locomotor coordination is encoded through graph coupling. Fixed intra-subgraph links synchronize heterogeneous actuator groups, whereas a small number of signed inter-subgraph links program phase relationships between groups. In physical robot collectives with up to nine modules, graph coupling drives the emergence of synchronization, signed links tune the phase difference from in-phase to out-of-phase motion, and floor experiments produce gallop-like and trot-like contact patterns in a five-module robot assembly. Replacing dense all-to-all coupling with sparse d-regular topologies preserves synchronization while reducing the coupling burden. The same graph representation also captures fault tolerance: increasing graph degree increases the number of module deactivations tolerated before desynchronization. Finally, an upper-confidence-bound edge-selection algorithm learns inter-subgraph links that drive the system toward target phase states. In a separate deactivation benchmark, the graph-based controller avoids the leader-specific failure mode observed in centralized leader-follower control and reduces worst-case phase error by about threefold. These results establish programmable network topology as a compact control layer for gait phase programming, online adaptation and robustness to unit loss in modular miniature robots.  \nINTRODUCTION  \nMiniature robots are increasingly being developed for operation in constrained, cluttered and communication-degraded environments, including inspection, search-and-rescue, environmental monitoring and security applications (1-10) . As these systems shrink in  \nsize while gaining functional complexity, conventional control architectures face a scaling problem: centralized computation, high-bandwidth communication and leaderfollower coordination become difficult to maintain under tight limits in power, cost, volume and reliability (11, 12) . For modular miniature robots, this scaling problem becomes a coordination problem: the controller must transform many imperfect actuator-sensor modules into a coherent locomotor system despite actuator variability, sensor drift, limited communication, and occasional loss of individual modules.  \nOne response is to distribute capability across physically coupled modules. Modular and self-reconfigurable robotic systems can provide versatility, scalability and fault tolerance while enabling system-level functions that are difficult for a single miniature unit to achieve alone (13, 14) . Recent small-scale collective and reconfigurable robots have further shown that changing morphology and inter-unit connectivity can adapt locomotion and task performance (15) . Once capability is distributed, however, the main design challenge shifts from the construction of each module to the coordination, synchronization and planning rules that allow the collective to act as a coherent machine under limited communication and connection strength (16) .  \nEmbodied and physical computing provide an appealing rout","cbCaid4eyvhAyDbw","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaid4eyvhAyDbw","pdf",11711260,1,23,"English","en",105,"# Introduction\n## Scaling and coordination challenges in modular miniature robots\n## Embodied physical computing and oscillator-based controllers\n## Graph-based programmability as a control interface","[{\"question\":\"What problem does programmable synchronization-graph control address in modular miniature robots?\",\"answer\":\"It addresses coordination of many heterogeneous actuator-sensor modules without privileged leaders, fixed gait templates, or dense communication while handling limited computation and occasional module loss.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the synchronization-graph framework encode locomotor coordination?\",\"answer\":\"Each actuator-sensor pair is represented as a network node, with synchronization driven by fixed intra-subgraph links and phase relationships programmed via a small number of signed inter-subgraph links.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the method improve fault tolerance and reduce phase errors compared with leader-based control?\",\"answer\":\"Increasing graph degree allows tolerance of more module deactivations before desynchronization, and a graph-based controller avoids leader-specific failure modes while reducing worst-case phase error by about threefold in benchmarks.\"}]",1784194017,58,{"code":4,"msg":30,"data":31},"ok",{"site_id":24,"language":23,"slug":32,"title":13,"keywords":33,"description":14,"schema_data":34,"social_meta":86,"head_meta":88,"extra_data":90,"updated_unix":27},"programmable-synchronization-graphs-for-adaptive-and-fault-tolerant-modular-miniature-robots","",{"@graph":35,"@context":85},[36,53,68],{"@type":37,"itemListElement":38},"BreadcrumbList",[39,43,47,50],{"item":40,"name":41,"@type":42,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":44,"name":45,"@type":42,"position":46},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":48,"name":12,"@type":42,"position":49},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":51,"name":13,"@type":42,"position":52},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/programmable-synchronization-graphs-for-adaptive-and-fault-tolerant-modular-miniature-robots/84212/",4,{"url":51,"name":13,"@type":54,"author":55,"headline":13,"publisher":57,"fileFormat":60,"inLanguage":23,"description":14,"dateModified":61,"datePublished":62,"encodingFormat":60,"isAccessibleForFree":63,"interactionStatistic":64},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":56},"Person",{"url":40,"name":58,"@type":59},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-17","2026-07-16",true,{"@type":65,"interactionType":66,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":67},"ViewAction",{"@type":69,"mainEntity":70},"FAQPage",[71,77,81],{"name":72,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":74},"What problem does programmable synchronization-graph control address in modular miniature robots?","Question",{"text":75,"@type":76},"It addresses coordination of many heterogeneous actuator-sensor modules without privileged leaders, fixed gait templates, or dense communication while handling limited computation and occasional module loss.","Answer",{"name":78,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":79},"How does the synchronization-graph framework encode locomotor coordination?",{"text":80,"@type":76},"Each actuator-sensor pair is represented as a network node, with synchronization driven by fixed intra-subgraph links and phase relationships programmed via a small number of signed inter-subgraph links.",{"name":82,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":83},"How does the method improve fault tolerance and reduce phase errors compared with leader-based control?",{"text":84,"@type":76},"Increasing graph degree allows tolerance of more module deactivations before desynchronization, and a graph-based controller avoids leader-specific failure modes while reducing worst-case phase error by about threefold in benchmarks.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":51,"og:type":87,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":58,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":89,"canonical":51},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":24},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":92},[93,97,101,105,110,115,120,123,128,131,135],{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":94,"show_sort_weight":95,"slug":96},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":112,"show_sort_weight":113,"slug":114},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":116,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":117,"show_sort_weight":118,"slug":119},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":121,"slug":122},30,"research-report",{"id":124,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":125,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":127},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":126,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":129,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":130},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":132,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":133,"show_sort_weight":132,"slug":134},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":136,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":137,"show_sort_weight":106,"slug":138},19,"General","general"]