Market-based control system for controlling object motion with smart matter

A method for controlling motion of an object with a transport assembly having embedded sensor units and actuator units, comprising the steps of:

• specifying, with an actuator distributor, prices at which quantities of a system resource are available for consumption by the actuator units;
• allocating market agents to compute bids to purchase certain quantities of the system resource;
• and
• computing, with a market auctioneer, an allocation of the system resource that satisfies an aggregation of the bids.

A control system for controlling an object having a position on a transport assembly;

• the transport assembly having arranged therein arrays of coupled sensor units and actuator units;
• the sensor units providing positional information of the object on the transport assembly;
• the actuator units consuming quantities of a system resource, said control system comprising:
• an actuator distributor for specifying the quantities of the system resource available for consumption by the actuator units;
• said actuator distributor determining a price at which the quantities of the system resource are available;
• market agents for computing bids to purchase quantities of the system resource with respect to a position mapping and a time mapping;
• the position mapping associating the market agents with a region of the transport assembly having selected ones of the sensor units and the actuator units;
• the time mapping associating the market agents with a point in time relative to a system time of the transport assembly;
• and
• a market auctioneer, coupled to said market agents and said actuator distributor, for receiving the bids computed by said market agents and the available quantities and prices of the system resource specified by said actuator distributor;
• said market auctioneer computing an allocation of the system resource that satisfies the bids.