Ensemble axiom

The ensemble axiom proposes that cooperation within an ensemble permits extreme simplification of the parts and enhances the operation of the ensemble ^[1]

Within claytronics it is stated as: A catom includes only enough functionality to contribute to the functionality desired in the claytronic ensemble.^[2]

This term is used within a research area called self-reconfiguring modular robotics and specifically within claytronics.

References

• The Robot is the Tether: Active, Adaptive Power Routing for Modular Robots With Unary Inter-robot Connectors by Jason Campbell, Padmanabhan Pillai and Seth Copen Goldstein http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~seth/The%20robot%20is%20the%20tether.pdf
• Claytronics Research Building synthetic reality from technological concept to engineered project http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~claytronics/claytronics/creating.html