ernestasju
commented
10 years ago Generally, you have you have robot parts: cores, hulls, manipulators, effectors, locomotion devices, etc. Each part will have one or more ways to attach it to other compactible parts. Attachments are fixed or contrained using constraints like fixed, hinge, slider and other constraints. Unity got all that stuff built-in in physics system already.
Now, robot building workflow would be:
1) Add a robot-core; optionally, configure robot-core; 2) Select attach point. 3) Select part to attach; optionally, if allowed, select different constraint; optionally, configure part; 4) Repeat process going back to 2 to create full fledged robot.
Robot build configuration can be saved as prefabs at runtime. See http://answers.unity3d.com/questions/339811/create-a-plain-gameobject-through-script.html and http://docs.unity3d.com/Documentation/ScriptReference/Object.Instantiate.html.
Each part should cooperate with other robot parts.
Say you have a panther-bot with plasma cannon mounted on its back. Each leg should comunicate with other legs to create walking/running motion but also not restrict aiming capabilities of cannon.
Walking is simply moving forward by using some simple repetitive motion pattern. Should robot be falling legs should automatically respond to keep robot standing. Then move it to position where it can make another step.
Also found article about locomotion for modular robots: http://ijr.sagepub.com/content/27/3-4/423.full.pdf+html
We need to figure an robot architecture and building process that is both very abstract and universal but also very simple.