Collaborative Research: An Expedition in Computing for Compiling Printable Programmable Machines

用于编译可打印可编程机器的计算探索Daniela Rus，Vijay Kumar，Andre Dehan，Martin Demaine，Sanjeev Khanna，Sangbae Kim，Insup Lee，Wojciech Matusik，Martin Rinard，Rob Wood该项目设想了一种未来的桌面技术，该技术仅根据需要打印实际的可编程混合机电设备，在任何地方都可以使用先进材料的专业工程师团队的技能。它将像个人电脑一样戏剧性地改变制造业，使信息技术民主化，并改变我们的沟通方式。按需定制网络物理系统的能力将改变应急计划的方式。在偏远地区从事人道主义援助和救灾的救援人员可以将现场的后勤需求降至最低。可能永远不会使用的备件和更换件仓库可以通过只以数字方式存储它们的设计来取代，而不是物理部件本身。计算机科学中关于什么是数字机器可以计算的基本问题将发生变化。这些问题将在更大的背景下被重新构建，比如什么功能混合机器可以从网络物理原语中构建出来。该技术方法建立在与编译器技术的类比和支持算法理论的基础上。经验丰富的工程师可能从经验中知道什么是可建造的，但他们的经验必须用一种融合了连续与离散、网络与材料加工物理的语言来表达。该项目涉及可构建的网络物理系统的广泛类别：(1)为设备的机械、电气、计算和软件方面的功能规范和自动化协同设计开发工具；(2)为设备的组装和提供所需的行为功能设计计划和控制算法，以及考虑到所有必要的资源，包括执行器、传感器和来自世界的数据流的这些算法的分析工具；(3)生成特定于设备和特定于任务的编程环境的方法，该环境为非专家用户编写的程序提供保障，以使他们能够安全地操作机器；以及(4)开发新的自动化生产新设备的方法，其可以基于具有可定制的电气或机械特性的可编程材料的合成。这项研究是高度多学科的，主要利用计算机科学、电气和机械工程、材料和制造科学等学科。该项目将创建一个对这一新研究领域感兴趣的社区，接触K-12年级的年轻人，通过专业学会会议吸引国内和国际社会的参与，并在参与的学术机构中建立新的跨学科项目。与非常成功的MOSIS计划(www.mosis.com/)一样，这个项目将传播研究成果，并为我们的技术试验提供社区资源和服务。如需更多信息，请访问：http://ppm.csail.mit.edu

An Expedition in Computing for Compiling Printable Programmable MachinesDaniela Rus, Vijay Kumar, Andre DeHon, Martin Demaine, Sanjeev Khanna, Sangbae Kim, Insup Lee, Wojciech Matusik, Martin Rinard, Rob WoodThis project envisions a future desktop technology that prints actual programmable hybrid electro-mechanical devices from only their sketches on-demand, anywhere with the skill of a team of professional engineers using advanced materials. It would transform manufacturing as dramatically as the personal computer democratized information technology and transformed how we communicate. The capability to customize cyber-physical systems on-demand would change how contingencies are planned. Rescuers engaged in humanitarian aid and disaster reliefs in remote locations could minimize their logistic needs on-site. Warehouses of spare and replacement parts that may never be used could be replaced by storing only their designs digitally, not the physical parts themselves. Fundamental problems in computer science about what is computable by digital machines will change. The problems will be reframed in a larger context as what functional hybrid machines are constructible from cyber-physical primitives. The technical approach builds on analogies with compiler technology and supporting algorithmic theories. Experienced engineers may know from experience what is constructible but their experience must be expressed in a language that blends the continuous with the discrete, the cyber with the physics of materials processing. The project addresses broad classes of constructible cyber-physical systems: (1) the development of tools for functional specification and automated co-design of the mechanical, electrical, computing, and software aspects of the device; (2) the design of planning and control algorithms for the assembly of the device and for delivering the desired function of behavior, and tools for the analysis of these algorithms that take into account all the necessary resources, including actuators, sensors, and data streams from the world; (3) the methodology to generate device-specific and task-specific programming environments that provide safeguards for programs written by non-expert users to enable them to operate the machines safely; and (4) the development of novel approaches to the automated production of new devices which may be based on the synthesis of programmable materials with customizable electrical or mechanical properties. This research is highly multidisciplinary, primarily leveraging the disciplines of computer science, electrical and mechanical engineering, materials, and manufacturing science. This project will create a community of interest in this new research area, reach out to young people in grades K-12, engage the national and international community through professional society meetings, and establish new interdisciplinary programs among the participating academic institutions. Like the very successful MOSIS program (www.mosis.com/), this project will disseminate the research results and provide a community resource and service for experimentation with our technologies.¬For more information, please visit: http://ppm.csail.mit.edu