  We present a novel concept of a heterogeneous, distributed platform for
autonomous 3D construction. The platform is composed of two types of robots
acting in a coordinated and complementary fashion: (i) A collection of
communicating smart construction blocks behaving as a form of growable smart
matter, and capable of planning and monitoring their own state and the
construction progress; and (ii) A team of inchworm-shaped builder robots
designed to navigate and modify the 3D structure, following the guidance of the
smart blocks. We describe the design of the hardware and introduce algorithms
for navigation and construction that support a wide class of 3D structures. We
demonstrate the capabilities of our concept and characterize its performance
through simulations and real-robot experiments.
