US Patent 10437220 Distributed machine cooperation in assembly

A machine control system comprising one or more modules with non-transitory computer-readable storage medium to store configuration instructions, one or more of the one or more modules operating as a node to control the one or more modules, and the one or more modules orienting into a hierarchy of modules in response to receiving a system objective to produce an output from the system objective by determining a combined operating space of the one or more modules in the hierarchy of modules, selecting an action from the one or more actions in the combined operating space, sending a message to one or more modules to perform the action, and performing the action by activating the one or more components per the configuration instructions.